Vietnam changes quarantine rules, unveils vaccine passport and begins regular international flights

Vietnamese authorities are proposing that those who have had full vaccinations only be quarantined for three nights, with PCR-RT tests on arrival and day three, and monitored for a total of 14 days.
The Ministry of Tourism of Vietnam has petitioned the government to re-establish a visa-free regime for less than 15 days for visitors from certain markets who are eligible for policies prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Airlines from other countries would not have an unfair advantage if they could fly to and from Vietnam.

From January 1, 2022, when Vietnam plans to begin regular international flights on a pilot basis, new regulations will take place.

Proof of negative COVID-19 test results within 72 hours before admission (except in the case of children under two years old), declaration of health status before entry, and installation of Vietnam’s PC-COVID app (available on both Android and iOS) are all required.

It is expected that two RT-PCR tests will be carried out, one on each of the first and third days following arrival.

There is still a 14-day self-monitoring period following arrival, but this is a considerable improvement over the current regulations of required seven-day quarantine, and seven-day follow up monitoring of health status.

Related: How to get your Covid Vaccine Passport in Vietnam

The medical self-observation could cease on the tenth day if they are prepared to take a COVID-19 test (RT-PCR).

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Vietnam has placed severe restrictions on who is allowed entry. A few international arrivals were sent to remote airports to complete their necessary quarantine.

It’s likely that opening up a few popular tourist locations to package tours from other countries didn’t go well.

Although it won’t open the floodgates to tourists, the planned three-day quarantine will ease travel for Vietnamese nationals, expatriates, and anyone with ties to the country.

Due to the Omicron variant making the rounds and changing admission criteria to several countries, this, in my opinion, can not be seen as restrictive at all, Joe Cusmano reported on traveldailymedia.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health announced procedures for the issuance of the country’s official COVID-19 ‘vaccine passports’ along with the passport templates, which is effective starting December 20, 2021.

Also read: Here’s What COVID-19 Vaccine Passport of Vietnam Looks Like

The Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccine certificates are to be issued for people who have received the primary course of one of eight types of COVID-19 vaccines licensed for use in Vietnam by the health ministry: AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria, Gamaleya Research Institute’s Sputnik V, Sinopharm’s Vero Cell Inactivated along with the manufactured-in-UAE version Hayat-Vax, Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty, Moderna’s Spikevax, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, and Cuba Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB)’s Abdala.

The QR code-based passport will be valid for 12 months, local media reported.

So far, Vietnam has accepted vaccine passports from 78 countries. Australia, Belarus, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. have accepted Vietnam’s vaccine passport, while it is under “consideration” in other countries.

Also read: Vietnam’s vaccine passport recognized by at least 80 countries

The issuance of the vaccine passports is applied uniformly across vaccination sites in the country, following three-step procedures, according to the Ministry of Health.