Int'l students urged to get vaccinated before arriving

Children dressed in hanbok at a kindergarten in Busan receive Covid-19 self-testing kits from a teacher on Thursday ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. [YONHAP]

As the Omicron variant causes record-high levels of Covid-19 infections, the government strongly advised international students to get vaccinated before entering Korea.

The Ministry of Education announced Thursday a new set of guidelines for international students.

According to the plan, international students are strongly recommended to complete vaccinations in their home countries.

Like other arrivals from overseas, the students must submit a negative PCR test result conducted within 48 hours of their dates of departure, install a self-quarantine mobile application and isolate for 10 days. Universities may send a vehicle to pick up students from the airport if possible. If not, they must use private cars or designated virus-free public transportation from the airport to the place of isolation.

Like other travelers, they must submit a negative Covid-19 test result on the first day after they start isolation and before being released.

During isolation, universities will check the health condition of the international students at least once a day.

For international students who haven’t been vaccinated, local authorities and universities plan to advise them to get vaccinated as soon as possible, even issuing a temporary foreign registration number to allow it.

Students vaccinated at home can put in their records by visiting district public health centers, and receive vaccine passes like people already in Korea.

The Ministry said there won't be any penalties imposed on foreign students who refuse to get vaccinated.

The new guidelines for foreign students came after daily Covid-19 infections hit record highs three days in a row due to the Omicron variant, which studies show to be over twice as transmissible as the highly contagious Delta strain.

Korea reported 14,518 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, raising the total caseload to 777,497, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

This is 1,508 more than the previous day, when daily infections passed 10,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and almost double the record number reported Monday of 7,512 cases.

Yet the soaring numbers haven’t led to an increase in hospitalizations or fatalities, although authorities aren’t letting their guards down, as the numbers may rise in two to three weeks.

The number of Covid-19 patients in critical condition stayed in the 300s for three days in a row, hitting 350 as of Wednesday midnight. The occupancy rate of intensive care beds nationwide was 18.3 percent.

Thirty-four deaths were added, bringing the death toll to 6,654.

Given the current transmission pace, health officials forecast that daily cases could surpass 20,000 before the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins this weekend, and could soar to over 30,000 next month after the holiday, especially if many people travel.

In response, from Saturday, health authorities are introducing free rapid antigen tests at all Covid-19 screening clinics across the country in a bid to concentrate on swift diagnosis and treatment of high-risk groups.

In addition, starting next Thursday, after the Lunar New Year holiday, people will be able to take Covid-19 tests and receive treatment at some 1,000 designated local hospitals and clinics.

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) held a press conference Thursday to announce that local hospitals and clinics will be in charge of the virus diagnosis using rapid antigen tests and home treatment for patients with mild symptoms starting next Thursday. For severely ill patients, they will help them get into larger designated hospitals.

"We are aware of the concerns about false negatives from rapid antigen tests and [agree] that the main diagnosis should be made through polymerase chain reaction [PCR] testing, but we are implementing the system for screening [positive patients],” said Lee Sang-woon, vice president of the KMA. “Even if a negative rapid antigen test result shows up, doctors can conduct additional PCR tests if the patient's symptoms are suspicious.”

He continued, “It is a process of finding the best way as the country is in an urgent situation,” adding, “We will work closely with the government to help the people get away from the fear of Omicron.”

The KMA is currently receiving applications from local hospitals and clinics to be involved in Covid-19 diagnosis, examinations, and treatment from 16 municipal and provincial medical associations nationwide.

Despite coronavirus infections soaring, health authorities hinted that they will not toughen social distancing measures.

Son Young-rae, senior epidemiological strategist at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, told reporters on Thursday that authorities are trying “not to strengthen the distancing measures if circumstances allow.”

The current social distancing rules, which ban private gatherings up to six people and put curfews on restaurants and cafes of 9 p.m., went into effect Jan. 17 and are set to expire on Feb. 6.

In the meantime, health authorities announced that an additional shipment of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 pill, will arrive on Sunday, with doses for 11,000 people.

Korea has bought enough oral treatments to cover 1.004 million people. By type, Pfizer’s Paxlovid makes up 762,000 of those treatments, while 242,000 are Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD)’s oral treatment Molnupiravir.

The first set of 21,000 courses of Paxlovid arrived on Jan. 13.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]