Arrivals at Quang Ninh's Van Don International Airport. (Photo: Internet)

The northern province of Quang Ninh has been selected as the location for the pilot programme which will take place from July 1 – 31.

The reduced quarantine time, from 21 days to seven days, is applicable to those entering Vietnam from abroad with valid certificates of full inoculation with COVID-19 vaccines approved either by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or Vietnamese authorities. The second dose must be administered no less than 14 days and no more than 12 months prior to entry.

It will also apply to people who have proof showing their full recovery from COVID-19 issued by the country where they receive treatment. The discharge date from hospital must not exceed 12 months prior to entry. COVID-19 vaccination records or recovery certificates must be available in English.

But in both cases, they will need to have negative lab tests for the virus prior to entry and will be tested on the first day of quarantine (antigen tests) and the sixth day (RT-PCR test). They shall be subject to 7-day home-based quarantine and 14-day follow-up health observation after concentrated quarantine.

Other cases of arrivals will undergo 14-day concentrated quarantine instead of 21 days, followed by 14-day health observation. People who enter the country for trips lasting less than 14 days are not eligible to the pilot policy.

The Ministry of Health also requests all the arrivals to make health declarations and fill in the registered quarantine facilities and subsequent places for self-quarantine on the Bluezone app (available on both iOS and Android) or on the website https://tokhaiyte.vn 36 hours prior to planned departure.