Vietnam begins limited reopening to foreign tourists

Tourists, mostly domestic, take a boat tour through the Thu Bon river on Apr 24, 2021 in Hoi An, Vietnam. (LINH PHAM / GETTY IMAGES VIA BLOOMBERG)

JERUSALEM / HANOI / JAKARTA / KATHMANDU / YANGON / SINGAPORE / DAMASCUS / TEHRAN / SUVA / VIENTIANE / WELLINGTON / KUALA LUMPUR / SYDNEY – Vietnam is welcoming foreign tourists this month for the first time since the spring of 2020 as the Southeast Asian country gradually reopens its tourism sector amid the pandemic.

Khanh Hoa Province on the south central coast received two flights carrying foreign tourists from Japan and South Korea as of Thursday, newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong reported. 

About 430 US tourists are expected to arrive in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hoi An in Quang Nam Province on charter flights Nov 17-18, while Phu Quoc Island plans for about 250 foreign tourists on Nov 20, the newspaper said in a separate report.

Foreign tourists face strict requirements, including being fully vaccinated at least 14 days before traveling or have recovered from COVID-19 no more than 6 months before departure, according to a posting on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s website. Visitors must also have tested negative for the coronavirus virus within 72 hours before departure. They must be part of organized tours and are restricted to visiting authorized areas and service facilities.

Vietnam’s transport ministry has proposed a three-phase plan to resume regular international flights next year, according to a posting on the government’s website. The first phase would begin in the first quarter next year with flights arriving from France, Germany, Russia, the UK, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia, it said.

Vietnam recorded 8,176 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, including 8,163 locally transmitted and 13 imported, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections reported in the Southeast Asian country brought the total tally to 1,026,522, with 23,082 deaths, said the ministry.

Australia

The state government of South Australia announced major changes to isolation requirements for contacts of COVID-19 cases ahead of border reopening.

Steven Marshall, the premier of the Australian state, on Monday announced that from Nov 23, fully vaccinated South Australians who are deemed a close contact of a coronavirus case will only have to quarantine for seven days.

Fully vaccinated casual contacts will only be required to self-isolate until they test negative for COVID-19.

Currently anyone deemed a contact of a positive case in SA must quarantine for 14 days regardless of their vaccination status.

The change will coincide with SA opening its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria when it is expected to reach 80 percent of over-16s fully vaccinated on Nov 23.

It will mark the first time since August that travelers from those regions, which were under COVID-19 lockdowns in the past months and account for more than half the Australian population, will be allowed into SA without quarantining for 14 days.

The Australian state of Queensland will ease some border restrictions on Monday, as the state hit its 70-percent COVID-19 vaccine milestone earlier than planned.

From 5:00 pm on Monday, the state will allow fully vaccinated returning residents and interstate travelers to fly into Queensland from a hotspot, with a new border pass which can be applied through the government website.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said travelers must also return a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours before arrival with a valid border pass.

Visitors arriving from Queensland-defined hotspot areas will need to quarantine at home for 14 days, so long as it has no shared common areas accessible by people outside the household.

As the state has marked days in a row without recording any locally acquired COVID-19 case, Palaszczuk said the state is also on track to potentially reach an 80-percent vaccination target earlier than expected.

Bahrain

Bahrain has approved the emergency use of AstraZeneca's anti-COVID-19 drug Evusheld, the state news agency reported on Sunday.

Bahrain has become the first country to authorize the drug, which will be limited to adults who suffer from immunodeficiency or who are taking immunosuppressants, as well as individuals with occupations that put them at risk of transmission, the news agency said.

Fiji

Fiji children aged 12, 13 and 14 years have started to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for the first time at vaccination sites in the capital on Monday.

Fiji's Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong on Monday said the government indicated that 500,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are needed for children's vaccination program.

Fong said the country would vaccinate students in different age groups and allow them to start school in groups.

A health worker inoculates a woman with a dose of the Covaxin vaccine against the coronavirus at a health center in New Delhi on Oct 21, 2021. (PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)

India

India is allowing quarantine-free entry to fully inoculated travelers from 99 reciprocating countries after halting tourist visas in March last year. The government only requires such tourists to monitor their health for 14 days after arrival.

The country’s immunization campaign has also gathered pace, with more than a billion vaccine doses administered, and antibody surveys suggest that most Indians have already been exposed to COVID-19. While national infection levels have in recent weeks touched lows last seen earlier in the year, there are concerns that the easing of curbs risks a complacency similar to when India experienced an ebb between its two major waves.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 34,447,536 on Monday as 10,229 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, according to the health ministry's latest data.

Besides, as many as 125 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Sunday morning, taking the total death toll to 463,655.

There are still 134,096 active COVID-19 cases, the lowest active caseload in 523 days in the country, with a fall of 1,822 active cases during the past 24 hours.

A total of 33,849,785 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals so far, out of which 11,926 were discharged during the past 24 hours.

A Muslim woman uses her phone as she walks by names of health care workers who died of COVID-19 engraved on Pandemic Heroes Monument, in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia on Oct 12, 2021. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)

Indonesia

Indonesia on Sunday confirmed 339 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 4,250,855, according to the country's Health Ministry.

The ministry reported that the death toll from the virus in the country rose by 15 to 143,659, while 503 more people recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,098,178.

Iran

The Iranian health ministry reported on Sunday 6,143 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 6,037,718.

According to an official briefing published on the ministry's official website, the pandemic has claimed 128,167 lives in the country so far, after 125 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.

In this file photo taken on Aug 22, 2021, an Israeli child undergoes COVID-19 antibody testing in the coastal city of Netanya, before the start of the new school year. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Israel

Israel said on Sunday that children aged five to 11 would be eligible for vaccination against COVID-19, and that a starting date for the campaign would be made public within days.

The decision, announced by the Health Ministry, followed approval by its expert panel on vaccinations last week, after the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use of Pfizer's and BioNTech's vaccine for the age group at a 10-microgram dose.

The original shot given to those aged 12 and older is 30 micrograms. Pfizer and BioNTech have said their vaccine showed 90.7 percent efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children aged five to 11.

In a statement, the ministry said a starting date for five-to-11 year-olds to begin receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would be set within days.

"The majority of experts on the committee were of the opinion that the benefit of vaccinating this age group outweighed any risk," the statement said.

Israel's 9.4 million population is relatively young, with around 1.2 million children in the five-to-11 age group. Health officials have been doubtful the country could reach "herd immunity" unless those children were vaccinated.

Adopting a "Living with COVID-19 strategy," the government kept schools and the economy largely open during a fourth wave of infections, while hoping to beat back the pandemic with booster shots, mandated mask-wearing and a "Green Pass" system of digital certification.

Japan

Japan is preparing to make vaccine booster shots available six months after a second inoculation, NHK reports, citing unidentified sources. Under current plans, fully vaccinated people would be eligible for boosters after eight months.

The move follows reports from other countries that vaccine efficacy starts to decline after six months, according to NHK. Japan is due to start its booster rollout next month, following the example of countries including the US, UK, China and Singapore.

Laos

As the number of the COVID-19 cases keep rising in Laos, the government has announced an extension of COVID-19 restrictive measures until further notice.

Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office Thipphakone Chanthavongsa told a press conference on Sunday that community spread continues across every province, with the number of new infections increasing. Most cases have been recorded in densely populated areas, with spread occurring at social events, in offices, organizations and within families.

Borders and checkpoints will remain closed, except those authorized by the National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Tourist and visitor visas will not be issued to foreigners. However diplomatic personnel, employees of international organizations, experts, and investors with an urgent requirement to enter the country will be granted entry but must comply with all COVID-19 prevention measures issued by the Lao government.

Entertainment venues must remain closed across the country.

Meetings and conferences or other gatherings with more than 50 people are prohibited including religious festivals and activities.

Meanwhile, Lao health authorities are advising people with COVID-19 who have mild or no symptoms to self-isolate at home instead of going to hospital, but stresses that they should follow the rules on COVID-19 control laid down by Lao Ministry of Health.

According to Vientiane Times, this should help lower the mortality rate due to COVID-19, because hospital staff need more time to care for people who are seriously ill with the virus.

Even though more temporary hospitals have been set up around the country, medical personnel will soon be unable to adequately deal with the growing number of COVID-19 cases, the ministry has said.

The Ministry of Health issued a statement on last Tuesday concerning self-isolation at home, stressing the fact that an infected person should isolate themselves from other family members.

The advice comes as Laos faces a spiraling number of COVID-19 cases, which is projected to increase further in the coming days.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported another 5,162 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Sunday, bringing the national total to 2,546,309, according to the health ministry.

Eleven of the new cases are imported, with 5,151 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

Another 45 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 29,676.

A woman receives a shot of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug 29, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Myanmar

The number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has risen to 513,262 on Sunday after 714 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to a release from the Ministry of Health.

The release said 16 more deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 18,929 in the country as of Sunday.

Nepal

The Nepali government started vaccinating its population aged below 18 with COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, said a senior official from the Ministry of Health and Population.

"We have started vaccinating people aged 12 and above with the Pfizer vaccine starting from Sunday," Sagar Dahal, chief of the National Immunization Program under the ministry, told Xinhua. "It is for the first time that we vaccinate people aged under 18."

He made it clear that only those with morbid health conditions like heart disease and diabetes would be administered with the Pfizer vaccine in the first phase.

After receiving 100,640 doses of the Pfizer vaccine last month under the global COVAX initiative, the Nepali government started vaccinating the younger population with the US-made jabs.

Dahal said the government is planning to vaccinate 40,000-45,000 people with the available vaccine. "The second dose of the vaccine will be provided in a month," he added.

New Zealand

Booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine will start being administered from Nov 29 in New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Monday.

The country's regulatory authority Medsafe has already approved the use of Pfizer as a booster for people above 18, Hipkins told a press conference.

The decision followed further advice to the cabinet from the vaccine technical advisory group.

"Vaccination is the best protection against COVID-19. Booster doses will be available free for anyone in New Zealand aged 18 or older who has completed their two-dose course more than six months ago," Hipkins said, adding people will be able to access boosters in New Zealand, whether they received their earlier doses here or overseas.

The Pfizer vaccine will be used for boosters, regardless of which vaccine was used for earlier doses. It is the same Pfizer vaccine used for the first two doses in the vaccination rollout, he said.

"While most other countries are rationing boosters to certain groups, we have made the decision to make boosters available to everyone. That ensures simplicity and equity," said the minister.

Hipkins said healthcare and border workers are a priority group for booster vaccine doses because they are on the front line against COVID-19 and because large numbers of them completed their vaccine course six months or longer ago. Older people including people in residential care are also a priority to access booster doses.

There are currently 144,000 people in New Zealand who have been vaccinated for six months and 455,847 who will be by the end of the year, he said. 

Singapore

Singapore recorded 1,723 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 237,203, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a press release.

Of the new cases, 1,651 were reported in the community and 66 in migrant worker dormitories while six were imported cases.

Chinese COVID-19 vaccines are unloaded from a plane at the international airport in Damascus, Syria, April 24, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Syria

The Syrian Health Ministry on Sunday received new batch of Chinese COVID-19 Sinopharm vaccine, the latest in a string of vaccine batches reaching the war-torn country to overcome the pandemic.

Syria's Health Minister Hasan al-Ghabash and Chinese Ambassador to Syria Feng Biao signed a reception note in Syrian capital Damascus, during which both officials have hailed the friendly relations between both countries.

Ghabash expressed gratitude to China for providing Syria with several batches of COVID-19 vaccines to help the country cope with the pandemic and carry on with the vaccination campaigns.

He said the Chinese vaccine has proven to be effective in preventing COVID-19, adding that the shipment has arrived at a suitable time to enable the country's vaccination campaigns.

"Truly, China hasn't saved any effort to provide medical help as well as vaccines to help the Syrian Health Ministry to carry out its role at these tough times," the minister noted.