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Foreign nationals wishing to enter the country will no longer be required to undergo a period of concentrated quarantine, providing that they have already received full doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and have a negative COVID-19 test.
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Instead, they will be permitted to self-quarantine and monitor their health at their place of residence for a certain period of time. Unvaccinated visitors will remain subject to concentrated quarantine in line with current guidelines.
Under the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s existing instructions, visitors with a vaccine passport and a negative PCR test will be required to undergo a period of concentrated quarantine for seven days, whilst they will also have to monitor their health for another seven days upon arriving in the country.
The MoH will therefore have to issue fresh guidelines on December 15 at the latest, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam while giving instructions at a working session held on December 8 with leaders of the MoH and other relevant agencies.
Vietnam has received more than 200,000 foreign business executives, experts, and engineers for socio-economic development projects since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since November it has been undergoing a pilot scheme aimed at receiving foreign arrivals once again in an effort to revitalise both aviation and tourism services following a hiatus caused by the prolonged outbreak.
However, a lot of Vietnamese nationals have been left stranded overseas due to COVID-19 and have a strong desire to return home, especially ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, said Deputy PM Dam, noting, “This is a very legitimate need and we have a responsibility to address it very urgently.”
According to the Deputy PM, though the number of new infections locally remains high, the outbreak has basically been brought under control. In addition, Vietnam is speeding up vaccinations in order to better protect people from virus infection and reduce numbers of critically-ill patients and deaths.
“It is necessary to fundamentally change our thinking on organizing the return of Vietnamese citizens abroad,” Deputy PM Dam stressed.
At present, Vietnam has yet to officially reopen international commercial flights pending the results of negotiations with other countries. Currently, it is actively working alongside its partners as a means of operating these flights once again in the near future, according to VOV