From Friday, fully vaccinated people will not have to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine after coming into close contact with a COVID-19 patient if they have no symptoms, even if the patient has a variant strain.

The Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency(KDCA) announced the guidelines Thursday, saying they adjusted the rules, taking into account the pace of vaccinations and the spread of variants.

It also took into consideration recent studies that showed the high efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against key variants. 

The government had initially excluded vaccinated people who came in contact with a COVID patient from the quarantine exemption if they had come into contact with patients infected with variants such as the highly transmissible delta strain. 

However, from now on all fully vaccinated people will be placed under passive monitoring, which requires two negative PCR tests - one immediately after the contact and another six to seven days later.