Passengers on international flights coming to and exiting Vietnam, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status, will no longer have to take a rapid coronavirus test before or after their flight.

The Government Office issued on Friday a new document on the implementation of regular international flights carrying passengers to and from Vietnam.

The document included the abolition of the requirement that international passengers must take a rapid COVID-19 test before or after their flight.

Airlines had complained about the disadvantages of the requirement since its introduction at the beginning of this year.

In Friday’s document, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh also approved increasing the frequency of regular commercial flights carrying passengers to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan and expanding the markets in the ongoing pilot program of flight resumption to Europe and Australia to meet the needs of overseas Vietnamese, who want to return to the homeland to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday.

Following that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is directing Vietnam’s representative missions in other countries to accelerate the reopening of regular international commercial flights and discuss with competent departments and agencies in Singapore, Japan, and South Korea for the exemption of COVID-19 quarantine requirement on Vietnamese arrivals.

The foreign ministry will also provide guidance on entry procedures for Vietnamese people whose entries are rejected by other countries.

In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Health to provide specific instructions on measures to prevent the penetration of the coronavirus Omicron variant from people entering the country.

As of Thursday, Vietnam had documented 2,203,208 COVID-19 cases, with 1,945,611recoveries and 37,291 fatalities, the Health Ministry reported. 

Health workers have administered more than 180.3 million vaccine doses since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8, 2021.

By Thursday afternoon, above 73.9 million adults of the country’s 98 million people had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while 78.9 million had been given at least one dose.

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