Starting Saturday, travelers from Hong Kong and Macau will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test result before embarking for South Korea.

According to health authorities, travelers from Hong Kong and Macau arriving by plane or ship will be required to present a negative result from a PCR test taken within 48 hours of departure, or 24 hours for a rapid antigen test. The regulation is already in place for arrivals from China.

Travelers from the two regions should also register their health and travel information in the Q-CODE system before arrival, but they are not required to take a post-arrival PCR test, unlike arrivals from China.

Health authorities said on Wednesday that they are enforcing more stringent quarantine measures on arrivals from China than those from Hong Kong and Macau as China stopped releasing daily COVID-19 data.

The authorities plan to continue to monitor and review the situation to decide whether additional measures are needed for arrivals from Hong Kong and Macau as well.