Vietnam to test reopening starting with Phu Quoc Island

Vietnam was one of the earliest countries to lockdown due to Covid-19, a strategy that had done it well until a massive outbreak in April, just like Thailand. And now, also like Thailand, they are looking to relaunch their tourism industry after close to two years of closures. Vietnam is now looking to reopen in late November, starting with the popular resort island of Phu Quoc.

The island aims to reopen to inoculated foreign tourists starting November 20 with charter flights bringing fully vaccinated international travelers to the tropical paradise. Phu Quoc is known for beautiful white sand beaches and clear blue waters on the coast with jungles and mountains inland.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese government was angling to turn the island in the Gulf of Thailand about 10 km off the coast of Cambodia into a beach-going tourist hot spot along the lines of Bali and Phuket. Phu Quoc had already been drawing massive crowds with figures from 2019 reporting US $18 billion generated by approximately 670,000 international travellers.

Like Thailand’s reopening, Vietnamese authorities hope to attract travellers from countries that are low risk for Covid-19 infections, citing parts of Europe, the Middle East, Northeast and Southeast Asia, North America, and Australia as their target market.

The reopening was originally planned for October, then postponed due to low local vaccination rates, with only about 20% of Vietnam’s 100 million people having received the full inoculation. But the Vietnam economy is suffering after closed borders and some of the strictest lockdowns in the world, with almost no commercial flights being allowed to land in Vietnam since the beginning months of last year.

So Vietnam is dipping its toe in the water with Phu Quoc, hoping to bring in a few vaccinated tourists next month and, if successful, slowly trickle in another 5,000 foreigners on charter flights between December and the end of March.

Vietnamese authorities hope that the experimental reopening of Phu Quoc Island will pave the way to reopening other popular tourist destinations like Ha Long Bay and Hoi An in the near future, but no timeline or details have been set yet.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World / The Thaiger

VISA AGENT

So long, farewell to Thailand’s Certificate of Entry – November 1

But what will replace it?

Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced an update to procedures for arrival in the Kingdom, post November 1.

The Ministry says that the unpopular Certificate of Entry, currently required for all international visitors, is set to be replaced by a new system they’re calling the Thailand Pass system. It is set to start on November 1… we’ll keep you up to date with this news on tomorrow’s Good Morning Thailand.

More updates are expected this afternoon as the CCSA meets to discuss re-opening plans, reduction of paperwork, reduction of curfew in the country’s Dark Red Zones and the removal of quarantine requirements for travelers from some countries.

All the latest news about November 1 changes from The Thaiger as the afternoon progresses.

Source - The Thaiger

Our VISA AGENT

EU Opens it Borders to Thailand and Other Covid-19 Safe Countries

The EU (European Union) agreed Tuesday to reopen its borders to 15 safe countries which also included Thailand that gone 36 day without a local covid-19 cases. The EU excluded the virus-stricken US, as covid-19 accelerates globally with more than 505,000 deaths worldwide.

Europe’s piecemeal reopening comes as countries struggle to revive economic activity while fending off new spikes of Covid-19. With hotspots still surging in Latin America and in the United States.

After days of negotiations, EU members finalized the list of countries whose health situation was deemed safe enough to allow residents to enter the bloc starting on July 1st. Furthermore the US was notably excluded, along with Russia and Turkey.

Those on the list are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Japan, Georgia, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

Travellers from China, where the virus first emerged late last year, will be allowed on the condition that Beijing reciprocates and opens the door to EU residents.

The border relaxation, to be reviewed in two weeks and left to member states to implement, is a bid to help rescue the continent’s battered tourism sector, which has been choked by a ban on non-essential travel in place since mid-Mach.

But with some 10.3 million known infections worldwide, the pandemic is “not even close to being over”, the World Health Organization has warned.

“Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.

EU Countries try to reboot economies

Even in the EU, where Covid-19 has stabilized in many countries, the lifting of lockdown measures is still touch-and-go. Above all as governments try to reboot economies facing historic recessions.

The UK, home to The EU’s deadliest outbreak, has already seen its sharpest quarterly contraction in 40 years. With its economy shrinking 2.2% from January-March.

The worst is yet to come, with economists predicting a double-digit slump in output during the second quarter, tipping Britain into a technical recession.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed Tuesday to deliver a “infrastructure revolution.” Above all to help the country build its way out of the economic downturn.

In the meantime, his government is employing a “whack-a-mole” strategy of targeted lockdowns.

While the government plans to reopen pubs, restaurants and hairdressers on July 4th. Schools and non-essential shops in Leicester, central England, have been ordered to close. The closure comes after a localized outbreak.

Germany, which has been praised for its handling of Covid-19, also saw its North Rhine-Westphalia state extend a lockdown. On a district hit hard by an outbreak of Covid-19 slaughterhouse.

Covid-19 Continues its havoc worldwide

In Australia, a new spike in covid-19 cases was seen in parts of Melbourne. Spurring new stay-at-home measures affecting some 300,000 people.

In Brazil, which is home to the world’s second deadliest outbreak of Covid-19, was reeling from its worst week yet. It registered a record number of 259,105 cases in the seven days to Sunday.

Peru is also suffering, with more than 9,000 fatalities.

And in Iraq, overwhelmed doctors are struggling with mask shortages, unpaid salaries and dilapidated hospitals as daily infections rise. “We’re collapsing,” said Mohammed, a doctor at a Covid-19 ward in Baghdad.

Iran announced another 150 deaths Tuesday as officials said the virus was still peaking in parts of the country.

Around the world, sporting events also continued to fall off the calendar. Including the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and the remainder of this year’s World Rugby Sevens Series.

Researchers in China, meanwhile, have discovered a novel swine flu capable of triggering another pandemic.

Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009. According to scientists at Chinese universities and China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source - Chiang Rai Times