The government will resume issuing short-term visas for travelers from China on Saturday.

Kim Seong-ho, a senior official of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, announced the decision on Friday, saying that the portion of travelers from the neighboring country testing positive for COVID-19 has dropped to the one-percent range.

Concerns over subvariant infections involving arrivals from China have also been eased, he added.

The government also plans to gradually ease the remaining additional quarantine measures for Chinese arrivals depending on the situation.

Early last month, Seoul imposed tougher entry restrictions on arrivals from China following a resurgence of the pandemic in the country, including the suspension of short-term visa issuance via its diplomatic missions. China responded with similar measures against travelers from South Korea in an apparent retaliatory move.