In response to the spread of Omicron mutation, measures to strengthen the management of foreign imports… From tomorrow on, Omicron Rapid Reagent
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(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shinseon-mi Park Gyuri = The government has extended the entry ban on short-term foreign entrants from 11 African countries until February 3, next year, in order to prevent the inflow of Omicron mutation, a new mutation of the Corona 19 virus, into Korea. decided to extend
The government distributed PCR reagents for rapid confirmation, which can confirm the presence of omicron mutations in three to four hours, to local governments on the same day and ordered them to be used from tomorrow.
The Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters (Bangdaebon) held the ’76th meeting of relevant ministries to evaluate the situation of overseas inflows’ on the 27th and the ‘5th TF meeting to respond to new mutations’ the day before to take measures to strengthen the management of the current Omicron mutation inflow. It was announced on the 29th that it had decided to extend the implementation by four weeks.
The strengthening measures implemented on the 3rd of this month were extended once from the 17th to the 6th of next month, and then an additional extension was decided.
The government explained that it decided to take these measures in consideration of the possibility of a sharp increase in overseas inflows during the Lunar New Year holiday, as a result of analysis of the increase in the number of imported Omicron confirmed cases at home and abroad.
At the back briefing on the same day, Bang Dae-bon said that it plans to continue preparing future countermeasures, such as the need to add countries with entry restrictions, through a meeting with related ministries and a TF meeting to respond to new mutations.
The countries subject to entry bans for short-term foreigners so far are Namibia, South Africa (South Africa), Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, and Zambia.
Foreigners and Koreans staying for a long time from these 11 countries must self-quarantine for 10 days and undergo a total of four PCR (gene amplification) tests before entering the country and until release.
Arrivals from African countries other than 11 countries are also required to undergo inspection at the facility on the first day of entry.
Non-stop flights from Ethiopia, except for irregular flights for the transportation of Koreans once a week, will also continue to be suspended, and even if the entrant has been vaccinated against COVID-19, he/she must self-isolate for 10 days.
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Bang Daebon also temporarily suspends sales of new flight tickets from Singapore to minimize the influx of Omicron mutations.
The sales suspension applies to direct flights from Singapore to Korea from 00:00 today to 24:00 on the 20th of next month.
However, transit passengers who do not enter Korea and passengers who agree to quarantine for 10 days after arrival can purchase air tickets.
In addition, the quarantine exemption for those who boarded an airplane with an already booked ticket and came to Korea from Singapore will be maintained.
Korea and Singapore are tied to a travel safety zone (travel bubble, travel safety zone), and self-quarantine is exempted for those arriving from their respective countries.
In line with South Korea’s measures, Singapore will also suspend new ticket sales for flights departing from Korea until the 20th of next month.
In addition, the standard for applying the negative PCR confirmation certificate is changed from ’72 hours based on the issuance date’ to ’72 hours based on the test date’.
However, in order to minimize confusion on site, a grace period of 7 days is granted and will be applied from the 13th of next month.
The government has developed PCR reagents for rapid confirmation in order to more quickly identify omicron mutations and distributed them to each local government by this day.
From the 30th, each local government will check the omicron mutation with a rapid reagent.
The government also completed a pre-purchase contract for 604,000 oral treatments for COVID-19 and plans to push forward with a pre-purchase contract for an additional 400,000.
According to the script, as of 00:00 on the 27th, 181 (40.7%) of the 445 people infected with Omicron in Korea were imported from the US, UK, and South Africa. situation.
Although it is reported that the severity of Omicron is relatively low, it is believed that the risk is not lower than that of the delta mutation, as it has a rapid transmission power, so there is a possibility of a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases, and the vaccine has a limited effect.
As concerns about the spread of Omicron continue to grow, the validity period of the ‘Quarantine Pass’ (inoculation certificate, negative confirmation) will be applied from January 3, next year.
In order to enter a multi-use facility with a quarantine pass applied, a third vaccination (additional vaccination) must be given within 6 months of the basic vaccination against COVID-19.
Vaccination certificate QR codes provided by private platform companies such as Kakao and Naver do not yet reflect the 3rd dose, so system improvement is ahead.
sun@yna.co.kr, curious@yna.co.kr
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2021/12/29 16:17 Send
