Quarantine time for foreign visitors to Vietnam requested to be reduced to 3 days
Quarantine time for foreign visitors to Vietnam requested to be reduced to 3 days
The Vietnamese government is now contemplating the possibility of reducing the quarantine time for foreign visitors to three days. Those from high-risk areas will have to remain longer.
The Ministry of Health stated that foreign tourists having been fully vaccinated must be quarantined for seven days upon entering the country. Based on this guideline, an international flight resumption plan has been established.
Vo Huy Cuong, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, on the other hand, suggested a three-day quarantine period or letting international travelers stay at specified accommodations for just one day before being allowed to fly normally if they get negative results for the new Delta variant.
“With the aim of resuming international tourism and becoming an appealing destination, a potential alternative is to shorten the quarantine time for international passengers,” he claimed.
Since the country has changed from a zero Covid case approach to living safely with the virus, the resumption of foreign flights is crucial to revitalize tourism, investment and commerce.
With higher vaccination rates and testing facilities, there is no mounting concern about overburdening the local healthcare system while greeting back international visitors, Vo Huy Cuong added.
Taking Thailand as a specific example, that country officially exempts foreigners with a vaccination passport from obligatory quarantine and merely needs them to provide a negative Covid test result before flight.
By citing neighboring nations’ reopening of their doors to international visitors and demanding more lenient quarantine and medical standards, Former General Department of Preventive Medicine chief Nguyen Huy Nga emphasized that the previous mandatory quarantine period for properly vaccinated foreign travelers is “very conservative” in comparison to regional nations and will stymie the country’s tourism flourishing.
From the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, Nguyen Quang Trung postulated that fully vaccinated passengers arriving from low-risk countries and territories with a high vaccination rate not be isolated, or that the quarantine period be reduced to one day.
In March 2020, the Vietnamese government locked its borders from foreign visitors and grounded international planes, and has subsequently allowed only Vietnamese repatriates, foreign specialists, and highly trained professionals to enter.
If overseas Vietnamese require to be repatriated, they must abide by the present quarantine restrictions, said the representative of Vietnam Airlines, stressing that the current policy should be amended to enhance the tourism sector in Vietnam.
Starting from this month, five tourist attractions: Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Da Nang, and Quang Ninh have been given the go-ahead to receive foreign tourists as part of a plan to progressively revive international tourism.
Covid-19 vaccination passports issued by 72 countries and territories have already been accepted by Vietnam, not to mention another 80 nations are recently added in discussion. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s vaccination passport has been approved by the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Belarus.
