Vietnam to open up further after Tet

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has restarted flights to and from nine cities: Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Chinese authorities have yet to approve requests for flights to Beijing and Guangzhou.

In recent weeks Vietnam airlines has also been organizing flights to Australia, the U.K., France, and Germany.

Next week Bamboo Airways will start flying to Germany, the U.K. and Australia.

Foreign visitors to Vietnam are required to furnish negative PCR Covid-19 test results, and rapid tests are no longer required on arrival.

People who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 have to self-isolate at home for three days.

A seven-day isolation period is applicable for those who have not got two shots.

Tourists are also required to have medical insurance cover for Covid treatment worth at least $50,000.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is gradually resuming inbound tourism.

Localities that have given its people a third shot or are identified as "green" zones can allow in foreign travelers.

On March 31, Vietnam plans to fully reopen to tourists, with the tourism ministry considering the timing appropriate since by then the entire adult population would have received three doses.

The government gingerly reopened to international tourism last November when 29 travelers arrived in Hoi An Town.

Since then the country has received 8,500 tourists, mostly from Russia, South Korea, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S.

The government is also set to let 17.1 million students, or 75.7 percent of everyone from kindergarten to 12th grade, return to school next week.

Tran Dac Phu, a senior consultant at the Vietnam Public Health Emergency Operation Center, said after the Tet holidays, which end Sunday, is a good time to resume socio-economic activities since 96 percent of the population has been administered two vaccine doses.

Though restrictions have been relaxed the pandemic remains under control, which allows further opening, he said.

The country should make it easy for foreign travelers to enter to boost tourism, he added.