Vietnam limits inbound flights until mid-February

Only necessary flights with approval from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Transport can enter the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said Saturday.

After the holiday, which falls February 10-16, the transport ministry will study the possibility of resuming international flights, but limitations will still continue, the PM said.

Vietnam stopped commercial flights carrying experts and workers last month and allowed only repatriation flights as the Covid-19 situation got intense globally with a new variant spreading from the U.K.

On January 5, the government suspended flights from countries and territories with the new variants, starting with the U.K. and South Africa.

All entrants have to go through a 14-day mandatory quarantine except for cases determined differently by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since Vietnam suspended inbound international flights late March, the government has organized over 260 repatriation flights to bring Vietnamese citizens back from 59 countries and territories, according to the foreign ministry.

Vietnam announced to resume commercial flight routes with six countries and territories - China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Laos and Cambodia - in September last year but does not allow inbound flights, apart from special flights to bring experts in.