Coronavirus: Vietnam to resume flights from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and 13 other places from December
- Travellers wanting to visit Vietnam must be fully vaccinated and have a negative test result 72 hours before arriving
- Elsewhere, the reopening of the Singapore-Malaysia land border has sparked a rush for bus tickets, while 84 people at an Australian backpackers’ hostel have been forced into lockdown
Vietnam will resume international flights from 15 locations starting from December, nine months after they were suspended due to Covid-19, the government said on Thursday.
Chinh, who left Tokyo on Thursday following a four-day visit, also said Vietnam and Japan were considering recognising each country’s respective vaccine passports.
Japan, Vietnam pledge closer ties amid ‘serious concerns’ over South China Sea
Vietnam suspended all international flights at the end of March last year to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
According to a proposal submitted by Vietnam’s Transport Ministry early this month, Vietnamese and foreigners from 15 locations – namely China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, France, Germany, Russia, Australia and Britain – will be able to fly to Vietnam.
In order to enter the country, passengers must be fully vaccinated or possess a certificate of recovery from Covid-19 and a negative test result 72 hours before arriving. Arrivals will also be required to self-quarantine and have their health monitored for at least seven days.
The government will consider allowing citizens from other countries to enter Vietnam in the second quarter of 2022.
Singapore’s high vaccine rates will help it avoid Europe-style surge: minister
Singapore’s immunised population is half as likely to die of Covid-19 than influenza, while those who aren’t vaccinated are five times more likely to succumb to the infection, Ong said on Wednesday at the Asia Summit on Global Health in Hong Kong. That shows that the virus can be endemic, provided enough people are immunised, he said.
About 85 per cent of Singaporeans are fully vaccinated and some 94 per cent of those eligible for Covid-19 shots have got them, according to the health ministry, and nearly one-in-four people have already received a booster shot, Ong said.
“Can we keep ICU cases and deaths as low as possible, to the extent that it’s no different from an influenza wave?” he asked. “I think it’s possible,” he said. “Even when it’s a wave you can withstand it. There are casualties but you are able to work through it with society still functioning very normally.”
The next two weeks will be critical for Singapore, Ong said.
Singapore still hoping for Hong Kong travel bubble, health minister says
Officials won’t decide whether to ease pandemic restrictions further, or to hit pause on the reopening, until it’s clear where the outbreak is headed, he said.
The city state, which is seeing around 1,500 new cases a day – up from double digits at the start of the year, but down from the peak above 4,500 last month – recently allowed five people from different households to dine together in a restaurant, up from two.
“Cases ought to go up,” he said. “On the other hand, we are also rolling out boosters at a fairly decent pace. We are also seeing more people recovering safely, and there will be natural immunity. With all three measures in place, it applied brakes on the natural rise of infections. We will have to monitor closely for the next two weeks, and then we will know.”
One of the next relaxation moves will be to ease work from home requirements, he said, without giving a timeline for when or how that may occur.
02:44
Singaporeans welcome plan to charge Covid-19 patients for medical care if they refuse vaccines
84 locked in Australian hostel after one case
Police are stationed outside the Aquarius Backpackers to make sure the 84 staff and guests remain inside for 48 hours, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Those locked down in the venue are being supported with food and health care, local MP Tamara Smith said on Facebook.
A woman from Victoria state who was living at the hostel tested positive, the ABC reported.
Byron Shire’s vaccination rate has lagged behind that of the broader state, sparking fears there could be an outbreak in the area as New South Wales reopens following months of travel restrictions. Still, nearly 81 per cent of residents aged 16 and over are now fully inoculated, data shows, compared to 92.1 per cent statewide.
NSW posted 276 new daily cases on Thursday, while Victoria, the country’s second-most populous state, recorded 1,254.
Rush for Singapore-Malaysia causeway bus tickets
More than 20,000 people were queuing on the ticket portal of Handal Indah, one of the two operators that will serve the route when it opens on November 29. Later on Thursday morning, the Malaysian bus company’s website wouldn’t even open.
Transtar Travel, meanwhile, directed users to a “virtual waiting room” and said the ticket-purchase page would open when slots became available. “We are experiencing high user volume,” it said.
Singapore and Malaysia to reopen land, air travel on November 29
As many as 2,880 people a day will be allowed to travel in the initial phase of the reopening of a causeway linking Singapore and the Malaysian Peninsula, according to an agreement announced on Wednesday. Each bus has a maximum capacity of 45 passengers.
Prior to the pandemic, some 300,000 people crossed the land border each day, for work on the other side or tourism. Those who have been working in either country will get priority for tickets, the Singapore government said on Wednesday.
Transtar’s website showed all tickets for the next 30 days sold out in about 20 minutes, The Straits Times and Channel News Asia reported.
Thailand sees gradual tourism recovery
In the first 10 months of 2021, Thailand saw 106,117 foreign tourists, a drop from 6.7 million in 2020. Before the pandemic, the country welcomed about 40 million visitors a year.
Hospitality firms like Asset World Corporation, which opened its 19th property this month, saw the majority of its bookings come from Western countries and the Middle East.
“About 70 per cent of total bookings came from Europe, including Germany, Britain, Scandinavian countries, followed by the US, Middle East, and Asia,” chief executive Wallapa Traisorat said.
Thailand, one of the region’s most popular destinations, is heavily dependent on tourism. In 2019, 40 million arrivals spent 1.91 trillion baht (US$57.3 billion).
Unvaccinated people 16 times more likely to die from Covid-19: report
Centara Hotels and Resorts is moving ahead with plans to open a 1.1 billion baht hotel on the island of Samui in December.
Initially the property expects most guests to be locals on longer stays, said Centara Hotels chief financial officer Gun Srisompong.
“Demand patterns have changed. Individual travellers on longer stays and ‘workations’ need more personalisation,” Srisompong said.
Thailand expects only 200,000 foreign tourists this year, and 5 million in 2022.
Thinner crowds and discounts made for a more pleasant experience, said German tourist Markus Klarer.
“It’s a good time to come back to Thailand again,” Klarer said.
Despite the reopening, some businesses said virus rules still made some things hard.
“Tourists are not fully confident and still confused with government regulations,” said Chitchai Senwong, a restaurant manager in Bangkok, citing a rule that prohibits alcohol consumption after 9pm.
New Zealand to spend US$687 million on testing
The nation will increase use of rapid antigen testing from December 1 to supplement PCR tests, Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said in a statement. New Zealand will adopt a system on December 3 that codes each region red, orange or green depending on vaccination levels and exposure to Covid-19.
“Delta is here, so we are ensuring we have the tools in place to support the transition to the new framework,” Verrall said.
Reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters, dpa
