Vietnam resumes air services to China after nearly 3 years

Vietnam Airlines said in a release that it resumed flights to China after the country loosened its pandemic prevention policies and travel restrictions.

There will be one weekly flight each from Ho Chi Minh City to Guangzhou and Shanghai and two a week between Hanoi and Shanghai.

The resumption of services to China means Vietnam Airlines now has more than 600 international flights a week, or 70% of the pre-pandemic number.

Passengers need to carry a PCR test result and health declaration.

China's national health authority said Wednesday that asymptomatic Covid-19 cases and people with mild symptoms could quarantine at home, a sign that China is preparing to live with the disease, Reuters reported.

China used to be Vietnam's biggest tourism market until the pandemic intervened, with nearly 5.8 million Chinese visiting in 2019.

Some 36,000 Vietnamese nationals live in China.

In the absence of Chinese tourists, Vietnam only received 2.95 million foreign visitors in the first 11 months of this year, or just more than half its full-year target of five million.

The country opened its borders in March.