SEOUL– Six vaccinated people who arrived in South Korea from overseas this month and skipped the mandatory coronavirus quarantine have tested positive for the virus, health authorities said Wednesday.
The cases were found in diagnostic tests conducted on 13,448 people on their first day of arrival since July 1, the Central Disaster Management Headquarters (CDMH) said in a press release.
Starting this month, the government began to exempt vaccinated people coming in from other countries, except some high-risk nations like India and South Africa, from the 14-day quarantine.
The purpose of the visit must be related to either business, public service or humanitarian taks, like family visits, among a few others.
Five of the six confirmed patients came from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with three of them vaccinated with Sinopharm shots and another with Pfizer jabs, the CDMH said. The fifth person from the UAE is a six-year-old child.
The sixth patient arrived from Uganda and has received AstraZeneca vaccines.
South Korea is battling yet another resurgence of the COVID-19 amid growing concerns over the inflow of the new delta variant and a slow vaccination process.
Daily virus cases hit a fresh high of 1,615 on Wednesday, with the total caseload at 171,911.
Source: Yonhap News Agency