UK Flight Suspension Extended for Two More Weeks Until Next Month 11

UK Flights Temporarily Suspended
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The government has decided to extend the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom to prevent the domestic inflow of COVID-19 variant viruses.

According to quarantine authorities and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United Kingdom on the 24th, the suspension of direct flights from the UK, which was scheduled until the 25th, will be extended for another two weeks until the 11th of next month. The government initially suspended flights departing from London Heathrow Airport to Incheon International Airport from December 23 to 31 last year after multiple reports of variant viruses in the UK, and has continued to extend this suspension. The variant viruses spreading in the UK and other regions are known to be about 1.7 times more transmissible than the original virus.

To block the inflow of variant viruses, the government has raised the level of quarantine measures during the inspection process. Starting today, all entrants coming into the country from abroad are required to submit a negative result from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Foreign nationals who fail to submit this certificate are prohibited from entering the country, and Korean nationals must undergo diagnostic testing at temporary living facilities and may be quarantined for 14 days. All related costs are borne by the individuals. Additionally, all entrants must undergo testing both after entry and before release from quarantine.

Currently, variant viruses are rapidly spreading worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of the 15th of this month, the number of countries where the UK variant virus has been detected has increased to 94. The South African and Brazilian variants have been detected in 46 and 21 countries, respectively.

So far, a total of 128 people have been confirmed infected with variant viruses domestically, including 109 infected with the UK variant, 13 with the South African variant, and 6 with the Brazilian variant. Most of these cases were imported from abroad, but recently, cases of cluster transmission within local communities through family and relative gatherings have also occurred consecutively.