Turkey lifts PCR test requirement for Vietnamese visitors

In addition to Vietnam, those from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K., Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Thailand, South Korea, Israel, Japan, Estonia, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also eligible for entry under the new ruling, set to take effect May 15.

From December last year, all passengers six years old and above were required to submit a negative Covid-19 PCR test result obtained within the last 72 hours prior to departure for Turkey. All passengers arriving into Turkey need to wear a mask on the plane and in the airport at all times.

Vietnamese tourists to Turkey are not required to be quarantined but those arriving in Vietnam from all countries and territories including Turkey must be sent to centralized quarantine facilities as per Health Ministry protocol.

The health ministry on Tuesday said individuals who have completed the mandated 14-day quarantine and tested negative twice after entering Vietnam will not be released immediately. This rule will apply starting Tuesday after several individuals contracted the virus after they had already completed the 14-day quarantine and tested negative twice. The ministry, however, did not specify the duration of extension at centralized quarantine facilities.

Turkey has recorded 4.9 million infections and 41,191 deaths so far while Vietnam has been dealing with a surge in community transmissions since April 29 after more than a month. Thirty-six new domestic cases have been confirmed by Vietnam's Health Ministry since last Thursday.

The Vietnamese government closed national borders and canceled all international flights on March 25, 2020. It has since allowed in only Vietnamese repatriates and foreign experts and highly-skilled workers.