US lists Vietnam high Covid risk destination

Fifty-six countries and territories, including Australia, Laos, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, have been listed as level 3, or those posing high Covid-19 risks in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest travel advisory.

The agency has warned unvaccinated travelers to limit non-essential travel to Vietnam. Due to the current pandemic situation in the country, all travelers may be at risk of contracting or spreading Covid variants, it said.

If American citizens must travel to Vietnam for essential purposes, they are advised to get fully vaccinated before arrival and follow local recommendations and requirements like wearing a mask and staying two meters away from others.

The U.S. reopened its borders from last month, allowing in all foreign arrivals to enter the country.

However, in light of the emergence of the new Omicron variant, the U.S. government required all travelers to the U.S., including U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and non-immigrants to present airlines with a negative Covid test taken no more than one day before their flight or documentation of having recovered from Covid in the past 90 days.

Pakistan on Monday announced to extend its travel ban to nine more countries including Vietnam amid the appearance of the Omicron variant.

Croatia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Ireland, Slovenia, Vietnam, Poland and Zimbabwe are listed in Category C — a list of countries from which travel is banned.

Vietnam has not detected any cases of Omicron so far, but is seeing a steady rise in Delta infections.