Foreigners to pay $63 minimum for Covid-19 tests
Foreigners entering Vietnam on commercial flights would have to pay around VND1.468 million ($63) for two mandatory Covid-19 tests, and register contact and quarantine details.
With commercial flights having been allowed to resume starting mid-September to and from certain countries and territories, those entering Vietnam for more than 14 days have to be tested for Covid-19 twice using the real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), each costing VND734,000 ($31.53), the Health Ministry said Monday.
The arrivals would have to pay additional VND238,000 ($10.22) for using rapid test kits.
Before boarding, passengers are required to present their passport, entry visa and a certificate confirming they have tested negative for novel coronavirus using the RT-PCR method within three days. This certificate must be certified by Vietnamese diplomatic agency in their host country.
Airlines are only allowed to sells tickets to passengers after they provide contact details in Vietnam, as well as the address and phone number of the quarantine facility registered, phone number of the person or organization picking them up at the airport. During check-in procedures, foreign arrivals must present quarantine registration papers in Vietnam.
Those entering Vietnam for less than 14 days are exempt from centralized quarantine and will be quarantined at their workplace, factories and hotels while those coming to Vietnam for more than 14 days will be taken to centralized quarantine facilities run by the government. Vietnamese carriers could refuse to transport those with body temperatures exceeding 37.5 degrees Celsius.
All passengers would have their samples taken for the first test upon landing at Vietnamese airports. They would be tested again on the sixth day after entering Vietnam.
Those testing positive for the novel coronavirus will be admitted to medical centers for treatment; while those reporting negative results twice can switch from centralized quarantine camps to isolation at home or their place of work or a hotel until they complete the 14-day quarantine period as per health ministry protocol under supervision of local authorities.
Those showing infection symptoms will have to continue staying in the centralized quarantine facilities until they are cleared to leave.
Foreign nationals and Vietnamese returning from abroad have to pay a minimum of VND120,000 ($5.16) a day for quarantine at government facilities under a decision approved last week. Foreigners are required to register their accommodation before booking flights to Vietnam.
Hotels and resorts in Hanoi and HCMC designated as quarantine facilities are charging VND1.2-5 million a room per night.
The government has allowed the resumption of commercial air services to mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, as well as Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
However, no official schedule for the two-way commercial flights has been released so far.
The only foreigners allowed in now are those with diplomatic and official passports, experts, managers, high-skilled workers, investors, their family members, international students and family members of Vietnamese citizens.
Vietnam suspended all international flights on March 25.
Vietnam has recorded 1,068 Covid-19 cases so far, 83 of them active. Its Covid-19 death toll stands at 35.
There has been no community transmission of the virus in the country for more than two weeks.
By Le Nga – VnExpress.net – September 22, 2020