Việt Nam temporarily stops health declaration for arrivals from April 27

Internaitonal tourists have documents checked at Cam Ranh Airport in south central Khánh Hòa Province. All arrivals in Việt Nam will not have to make health declarations from April 27. — VNA/VnExpress News Photo 

HÀ NỘI — Arrivals entering Việt Nam via all border gates will no longer have to fill and submit health declaration forms from April 27, the Ministry of Health has announced on Wednesday.

The ministry sent an urgent document to the People’s Committee of provinces and cities that have medical quarantine activities to temporarily stop requiring arrivals to make health declarations. 

They include Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Lào Cai, Lạng Sơn, Quảng Ninh, Quảng Trị, Đà Nẵng, Kon Tum, Khánh Hòa, Đồng Nai, HCM City, An Giang, Tây Ninh, Bình Thuận, Thừa Thiên Huế, Điện Biên, Tiền Giang, Quảng Bình, Quảng Nam, Cần Thơ, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Thanh Hóa, Long An, Đắc Nông, Lâm Đồng, Bà Rịa-Vũng tàu, Phú Yên, Kiên Giang, Lai Châu, Nghệ An, Đồng Tháp, Nam Định, Bình Phước, Sơn La, Cà Mau, Cao Bằng, Hà Giang, Thái Bình, Ninh Bình, Hà Tĩnh, Gia Lai, Đắc Lắc, Bình Dương, Trà Vinh and Vĩnh Long.

The ministry said vaccinations against COVID-19 have proved effective with the SARS-CoV-2 variants that are currently circulating. The number of new infections and deaths have recently dropped across the globe.

In Việt Nam, the pandemic has been temporarily put under control with a high vaccination coverage, the ministry said.

Based on the pandemic situation and the Government Decree 89/2018/NĐ-CP regulating the implementation of the Law on infectious disease prevention and control regarding border health quarantine, the Ministry of Health asked the People’s Committees of localities to guide agencies to temporarily cancel the requirement to make health declarations for all arrivals from April 27.

They are instructed to continue monitoring arrivals’ health at border gates and proactively update COVID-19 prevention and control recommendations in line with the real conditions.

The dropping of this measure is in response to recent reports of long waiting time and congestion at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City due to the rising number of flight passengers with the country’s reopening and the upcoming four-day public holiday April 30-May 1.

The ministry said it will continue to update and provide information relating to the pandemic inside and outside the country to have proper prevention and control solutions.

The number of new infections in Việt Nam has reduced significantly. The country recorded 8,431 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. 

Việt Nam has so far administered more than 213 million doses of vaccines to date. — VnExpress News