Vietnam considers shortening quarantine period for vaccinated entrants

The National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on Wednesday requested the Ministry of Health to devise new testing procedures for the aforementioned cases.

Those who have developed immunity against the coronavirus are also considered for shortened quarantine.

The committee also asked the Ministry of Science and Technology to push for research into new testing methods and equipment as current Covid-19 testing schemes on large scales are "tough and expensive."

Last month, the committee had asked the health ministry to draw up the categorization of "safe" visitors who should be quarantined for seven days instead of the usual 21.

Experts agree that vaccines need to be rolled out as soon as possible, especially before this October. Vietnam is aiming to secure 150 million vaccine doses within this year to cover 70 percent of its population. The country's mass Covid-19 vaccination program since March uses a Covid-19 vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, and has vaccinated over 1.1 million of its 98 million population so far.

As a coronavirus prevention measure, Vietnam has required all entrants to undergo a mandatory quarantine period of 21 days, up from the previous 14-day period after several Covid-19 cases only revealed themselves after their quarantine period had already ended.

The country has recorded 4,781 local Covid-19 cases in 37 localities during the latest coronavirus wave. Bac Giang and Bac Ninh now have the highest number of infections, at 2,565 and 927.