Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong responds to reporters at the Cabinet meeting on March 31, 2021. (Photo: VGP)

Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong told reporters that his ministry is working on a report on these issues to be submitted to the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control to ensure safety for all people and gradually reopen the economy.

Cuong said, “We are devising a quarantine policy for arrivals who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. We are also deliberating vaccine passport scenarios, which must balance economic benefit and risk of community transmission. We need to study it further.”

(Photo: VGP)

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) submitted to the Ministry of Transport a plan for resuming international flights in three stages. In the first phase, only flights for Vietnamese citizens will resume. Vietnam's airline carriers will work with diplomatic missions and quarantine facilities. A “combo” ticket will include a flight ticket, COVID-19 testing, quarantine facility cost, and a vehicle to take the passenger from the airport to the quarantine facility. Repatriation flights organized by the Government will be allowed in this phase.

In the second phase, set to begin in July, flights carrying both Vietnamese nationals and foreigners will operate. After entering Vietnam, passengers will be sent to quarantine. No testing will be required.

The third phase will start in September. Passengers will not be subject to quarantine upon arrival as “vaccine passports” will be in place by then.