Vietnam’s key decision-making body, the Politburo, has asked for research to be done on the feasibility of a vaccine-passport system to allow international travellers to visit the tourist island of Phu Quoc, according to local media reports.
Phu Quoc, part of Kien Giang province, hosts a number of gaming venues, including Corona Resort and Casino (pictured), Vietnam’s first casino to allow eligible locals to gamble, and which opened in January 2019.
The instruction to start the vaccine-passport research was made after a Politburo meeting on June 11, according to the reports.
In March last year, Vietnam banned until further notice most inbound travel by foreigners, as part of countermeasures against the Covid-19 pandemic.
A briefing paper from law firm Baker McKenzie stated that – with effect from July 1 – there would separately be some easing of quarantine terms for vaccinated persons entering the country via Van Don Airport in Quang Ninh province.
Van Don is home to a casino project being promoted by Vietnamese firm Sun Group. The latter firm is not connected with the Suncity brand, which is an investor in the Hoiana casino resort on the central Vietnam coast.
According to the Baker McKenzie briefing document, a formalised quarantine period, applicable on arrival at Van Don Airport, would be halved to seven days, from 14 days, for those who either: had received “sufficient” vaccine doses; or had recovered from Covid-19 “no more than 12 months ago”; and had a negative test result for infection, as confirmed respectively on the first and sixth day of quarantine; and who simultaneously present a favourable test result for antibodies to the virus that causes Covid-19.
“After seven days of centralised quarantine, entering persons will continue the quarantine,” in their relevant accommodation, “for another seven days,” and must “monitor their health” for a further 14 days, said the paper from Nguyen Thuy Hang, and Tung Phong Luc, of Baker McKenzie.
The authors added regarding the Van Don pilot scheme: “Entering persons with insufficient doses of the vaccine will be subjected to centralised quarantine for 14 days,” and must “monitor their health for the following 14 days”.
