Travelers arriving in South Korea will no longer be allowed to use public transportation in an attempt to boost quarantine amid a spike in imported COVID-19 cases.

According to the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters, from next Thursday all inbound travelers must use only designated quarantine buses, trains and taxis or drive their own cars in traveling from their point of arrival to their final destination in the country.

Additionally, the required time period for PCR test result issuance will be shortened from the current 72 hours to 48 hours. All inbound travelers must submit a negative PCR test result before departure.

A one-week flight circuit breaker will be kept in place, which suspends operations of a flight carrying three or more COVID-19 patients when entering Korea. 

The circuit breaker was triggered 24 times in the past four weeks.