440 corporate reps and engineers set to arrive in Southeast Asian nation by Saturday
About 440 Japanese nationals with business ties in Vietnam will arrive in the Southeast Asian nation by Saturday after being barred from entry for months due to travel restrictions enacted to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Nikkei reported.
According to the Nikkei, a chartered flight by Vietnam Airlines took the first group of 150 Japanese to Van Don International Airport in northern Vietnam on Thursday. All arrivals will be required to undergo coronavirus tests and quarantine in hotels for two weeks.
Vietnam and Japan agreed on June 19 to resume mutual travel in phases. Japanese employees stationed in the Southeast Asian country and engineers on long-term stays are now allowed entry into Vietnam.
Related: Travel from Japan to Vietnam will partially resume this week
Japan is ironing out a plan to reopen the country to Vietnamese technical trainees.
Vietnam suspended entry to all foreign travelers in March in response to the pandemic, except for special cases. Last month, the country had allowed entry to about 70 Japanese nationals as a special case.
The country’s Covid-19 tally is 352 by Thursday morning, and the number of active cases is 23 as the rest have recovered after treatment. The latest cases are those repatriated and quarantined upon arrival. VNExpress, a local media reported.