Covid tests for all travelers from China begin Monday

Quarantine officials help travelers from China get compulsory PCR tests for the coronavirus on Monday at Incheon International Airport. [YONHAP]

More than 1,000 people traveling from China landed at Incheon International Airport on Monday as new Covid-19 restrictions for Chinese arrivals went into effect.

Incheon International Airport said Monday it was told by customs officials that 1,160 people from nine flights were planning to fly in from China that day.

Over the past three months, an average of 1,100 people from China arrived in Korea through Incheon International Airport daily.

That’s far more than the 550 people the Health Ministry said it could test from China at the airport each day.

A spokesperson for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) later explained to reporters that Korean nationals and Chinese with residency status will be told to get tested at local public health centers near their homes, brushing off worries that the airport Covid-19 testing site wouldn’t be able to handle the influx.

Starting Monday, Korea is not accepting inbound travelers from China at any airport other than Incheon International Airport and all short-term visitors must pay for PCR tests for the coronavirus upon their arrival.

Short-term visitors will be tested at the airport. They will have to wait for their results, and those who test positive will be transported to state-run quarantine facilities, where they will be quarantined for seven days at their own expense.

Among 20 people from Jinan in China's Shandong Province who were tested on Monday, two turned out positive and were transferred to a quarantine facility in Incheon.

Travelers from China who are Korean nationals or who have residency status in Korea will be required to get tested for free at a public health center near their home within a day of their arrival. They will be told to quarantine at home until they receive the results. If they are infected, they will have to remain quarantined at home for seven days.

Also starting Monday, travelers from China will be required to register their information on the Q-Code system, accessible via a website created by the KDCA, to report their health condition to local authorities before they board a flight to Korea.

This system requires travelers to input their passport numbers, contact information and health condition to be allowed to board a flight to Korea, said the KDCA. Once this information is processed, passengers will be given a unique QR code, which they will have to show authorities at the airports.

Korea once required all inbound travelers to have a negative test result before boarding a flight to Korea, to be tested for Covid-19 after arrival and to quarantine for seven days, but dropped all measures by the end of October.

Starting Thursday, measures will be strengthened even further with an additional requirement for all Korea-bound travelers from China – including Korean nationals and Chinese with residency status in Korea – to show a negative test result before they board their flight in China.

The negative test result must be from a PCR test taken within 48 hours of boarding or from a rapid antigen test issued by a clinic in China 24 hours before boarding.

These measures, which do not affect travelers from Hong Kong or Macau, will remain through Feb. 28.

The strengthened restrictions come amid exploding Covid-19 cases in China. Millions are estimated to be coming down with the virus each day, with a total of around 18 percent of the population reportedly infected in the first 20 days of December, according to Bloomberg News.

Of inbound travelers from China in November, when China was still following its "Zero Covid" policies, 19 tested positive for Covid. In December, this number surged to 349, said the KDCA.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]