Vietnamese carriers asked to refuse passengers flouting pandemic prevention measures

The move came in the light of a new Covid-19 wave that reemerged in Vietnam on Jan. 28 before hitting 13 localities and major airports - Tan Son Nhat in HCMC and Van Don in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam asked airports to impose social distancing between passengers and increase buses to transfer passengers from terminals to planes.

Air passengers are required to submit compulsory medical declarations, wear face masks, disinfect their hands as well as keep a safe distance and avoid gathering in crowds.

Airport staff in direct contact with passengers must have anti-splash goggles and be regularly tested for the coronavirus. They need to install Bluezone, a Bluetooth-based app that helps determine if a person has come into contact with a Covid-19 patient.

The aviation industry has been ramping up a series of measures to prevent the risk of virus spread at large airports.

Passengers arriving at Tan Son Nhat from Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, all virus-hit areas, are randomly chosen for Covid-19 testing.

Earlier, dozens of employees at Van Don International Airport were diagnosed with Covid-19, prompting authorities to temporarily shut down the airport. Then, a series of staff at Tan Son Nhat, the country’s largest airport, were found infected with the coronavirus caused by a Rwanda variant.

Due to the impacts of the new wave that appeared just a couple weeks before Tet, the country’s biggest holiday, Vietnamese airports only received 815,000 passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday, down 66 percent year-on-year.