This blog post is to provide you with updated information about the outbreak of Covid-19 in Vietnam we received from the Vietnam government, Vietnam's Ministry of Health and Vietnam Administration of Tourism.

We also advise our guest to follow general advice by WHO to protect yourself and others from getting sick:

• Wash your hands frequently (Bring hand sanitizing gel (our guides can assist with purchases if required)
• Maintain social distancing
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth
• Practice respiratory hygiene
• If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early
• Stay informed and follow the advice given by your healthcare provider

 

(Updated 11th March 2020, 19h00)

• From Sunday 15th March, NO ENTRY AT ALL for passport holders from 26 Schengen countries, the United Kingdom and Iran/South Korea/Japan even with an Embassy-issued visa or prior approved E-Visa or visa on arrival confirmation letter.
• Vietnam has closed some of the destinations and that might affect your programs:
  • Hanoi: many sites are closed until the end of March: Temple of Litterature, Ngoc Son temple, Hoa Lo museum, Ethnology museum (until 15 March)...
  • Ninh Binh: all sites are closed until further notice
  • Hoian: attractions including some old houses, museums, pagodas are closed. The old town itself remain opened
  • Mekong Delta: Boat trip from Cai Be is closed. Vinh Long, Can Tho, Sa Dec, Chau Doc are still possible.
  • Mekong River cruise to Cambodia including speed boat from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh is closed
  • Please contact our travel experts at info@handspan.com for further updated information

 

(Updated 11th March 2020, 19h00)

Changes that  can affect your travel plans:

• The free visa program for the following countries is canceled from Thursday 12 March at 00:00: UK, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. 
• VISA to VIETNAM:
  • All nationalities must now obtain a visa at Vietnamese Embassies or Consulates. Requirements for getting a visa to Vietnam include: 
  • Pre-approval of the application for visa by the Vietnam Immigration
  • Handspan will assist with this process; it takes 2 to 5 days. 
  • For all passengers holding visas or pre-approved visas already, travel plans can go ahead.
• Halong Bay Closure: The Vietnamese government has just announced that Halong Bay (including Lan Ha Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay) will be closed from 12 to 26 March.

Please contact our travel experts at info@handspan.com if you have any further support regarding the trip reschedule and travel arrangement. 

COVID-19 current updates  

20 current active cases of infections in Vietnam including 10 Vietnamese and 10 foreigners. 

(Updated 9th March 2020, 14h00)

Vietnam government may cancel the visa exemption for all EU citizens (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, UK, Germany, French, Spain) in the next days. Please contact your travel consultant immediately for support. We can process the visa on arrival approval letter for you shortly.

 

(Updated 8th March 2020, 20h00)

As confirmed by Vietnam’s MOH, Vietnam has confirmed 14 new cases of COVID-19 infected. Current active cases in Vietnam include:

• 01 woman, 26 years old from Hanoi, visiting her sister in England and going to Italy, France and returning to Hanoi on 2/20/2020 (Patient No. 17).
• 01 male, 27 years old, from Thai Binh came to Daegu (South Korea) and returned to Vietnam on March 4, 2020 (Patient No. 18).
• 02 close contacts of patient no. 17 infected on March 6 (Patient No. 19 & 20).
• 01 man, 61 years old in Hanoi, was seated on the same row with patient 17 (Patient No. 21).
• 09 people are foreign travelers flying on the same flight with the patient no. 17 from England to Vietnam (Patients No. 22-30)

 

(Updated 06 March 2020, 10h00)

The number of respiratory infections caused by the new strain of Coronavirus has been considerably increasing in many countries in the world, including a lot of EU Countries. Please note the following requirement by Vietnam government as following:

• From 0h00 (12h00) today, passengers entering Vietnam from or through EU countries are required to fill out medical declaration forms as of March 7th before entering Vietnam. 
• The medical declaration will be applied at all border gates and airports
• If passengers show any signs of cough, fever, shortness of breath, or respiratory disease, medical quarantine measures must be applied
• The printed form is available for download HERE (scroll down for English); online form is available HERE 
• We advise every guest to fill out both the printed and online forms.

 

Medical declaration forms: 

• Online form: Medical Declaration Form
• Down load hard copy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZSSk7OCvLfSNqv1fWzl4U1S48cSCP0yX/view?usp=sharing

 

(Updated 02 March 2020, 10h00)

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said last week: “If fighting COVID-19 has been a war, then we have won the first round”. The situation in Vietnam has been stable and there has been no new infected case since February 12th. Vietnam has also been taken off the CDC ‘At Risk’ list in the US

However, Vietnam is still carrying on all the prevention methods to minimize the spreading of coronavirus. Hereinbelow are the new rules applied in Vietnam that may affect your trip to Vietnam. 

• Visa exemption is suspended for Korean (as of Feb 29) and Italian  (March 02)
• Passengers who have traveled from/transited in Korea/ Italy and Iran will be quarantined at a designated facility in Vietnam for 14 days upon the arrival. (as of Feb 28)
• Anyone including Korean who has visited Daegu/Gyeongbuk in Korea in the past 14 days is not permitted to enter Vietnam. 
• Anyone who has visited China in the past 14 days is not permitted to enter/transit Vietnam.
• All people who enter the country from epidemic countries (China, Japan, Korea, Italy, Iran) must carry out the medical declaration and medical quarantine at the border. People who show signs of fever, cough, shortness of breath should be transferred to health facilities immediately for isolation.

 

(Updated 26 Feb 2020, 12h00)

It is exciting to announce to you that all 16 cases positive with COVID-2019 found in Vietnam have been cured and discharged from the hospital, resulting in a 100% recovery rate. Since the start of the epidemic, Vietnam has done well to prevent the infection and has not recorded any new cases of positive testing with Coronavirus until now. Besides, Vietnam continues to monitor and quarantine suspected individuals.

On February 26, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen signed Decision No. 648 / QD-BYT on announcing the end of the COVID-19 epidemic in Khanh Hoa province. Thanh Hoa will be the next province to be declared free of epidemics. 

So far, Vietnam has been successful in controlling the contagiousness of the disease, with all of the cases been treated and discharged from the hospital. It means that there's no further infected case in Indochina countries.

• Vietnam: 16 recorded cases. All 16 of the patients have already been discharged from the hospital. No new cases recorded since 13 February
• Cambodia: 1 recorded case. The patient has already been discharged from hospital
• Laos: 0 confirmed cases

The reality on the ground is that the Vietnamese government have taken preventative action to help contain the virus:

• Health screening at airports and land borders;
• No flights between China and Vietnam;
• No entry for travelers having visited China in the last 14 days;
• Health declaration compulsory for incoming travelers from South Korea and Japan;
• Those who traveled to an epidemic area before will be refused to enter or quarantined for 14 days at the hospital. 

 

(Updated 19 Feb 2020, 22h00)

FACT: 

• Among 16 infected cases, 14 cases have been cured and discharged from the hospital.
• The 15th case, the 3-month-old patient from Vinh Phuc province is cured and will be discharged on Feb 20th
• The last patient, a Vietnamese- American hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh city has a negative COVID-19 test result twice. 
• No new infected case from February 12th
• Number of suspected cases with negative COVID-19 testing: 1167 cases
• Numbers of suspected cases that are quarantined: 23 cases.

Source: MOH (www.moh.gov.vn)

(Updated 18 Feb 2020, 11h00)

FACT:

There are 16 cases positive with COVID-19, including:

• Chinese father and son (have been cured and discharged)
• 06 Vietnamese returning from Wuhan, China (05 of them have been cured and discharged)
• 06 Vietnamese having close contact with N-CoV positive patient (02 has been cured and discharged)
• 01 American flying to Vietnam, transiting in Wuhan, China (test negative)
• 01 3-month-old patient with close contact with COVID-19 patient (test negative)

So far, Vietnam has achieved initial success in the control of the epidemic:

• Being treated and discharged from hospital: 09 cases
• 04 have been cured and will be discharged from hospital today
• Provinces found to have COVID-19 patient: Vinh Phuc (11 cases), HCMC (03 cases all sourced from Wuhan), Khanh Hoa (1 case), Thanh Hoa (1 case)
• Number of negative COVID testing: 1111 cases

Currently, there is not any case of contagiousness infecting to doctors, nurses and those working in the medical environment. There will be 6 more cases being cured and discharged from the hospital shortly.

Vietnam's Prime Minister has proclaimed the epidemic diseases in three provinces, which are Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa and Vinh Phuc. Khanh Hoa (home to Nha Trang) and Thanh Hoa will be declared free of Covid-19 after recording no new patient for 30 days (MOH).

WHO LAUDS VIETNAM RESPONSE TO COVID-19 EPIDEMIC

Vietnam has responded well to the Covid-19 epidemic from the very outset, preventing its spread, WHO says.

The World Health Organization said in a statement Saturday that the first days of the outbreak, when China had detected just 27 cases of the acute respiratory disease, Covid-19, in Wuhan City, Vietnam’s Health Ministry had already issued prevention guidelines, including close monitoring of border areas and steps to prevent possible infections among people.

When China confirmed the first death caused by the new coronavirus on January 11, Vietnam quickly tightened medical control at all border gates and airports. Visitors’ body temperature was checked on arrival; and anyone showing symptoms of cough, fever, chest pain, or breathing difficulties were isolated for testing and strictly monitored at medical facilities.

Apart from a hotline to provide the public with needed information on the disease, Vietnam also established 45 rapid response teams at major hospitals across the country to deal with suspected cases of new coronavirus infections.

Vietnam has also been doing a good job in monitoring and quarantining those suspected of contracting the virus and in treating infected patients, ever since the nation detected the first infection cases, the WHO statement said.

So far, Vietnam has recorded 16 cases, of whom nine have been discharged from hospitals while the rest are all in stable condition.

"Early detection, early isolation, and active treatment are extremely important," WHO said.

The UN health agency said it highly evaluates Vietnam’s ability to address urgent public health issues, including emerging outbreaks of infectious diseases.

For Vietnamese and visitors here, life goes on ...

 

(Updated 13 February, 19:00)

All the 16 infected cases found in Vietnam related to direct Wuhan contact and have been placed in field hospitals. There are 7 cured and leave the hospital so far including the first patient who is from Wuhan with a complicated medical profile. Others are all in a stable situation.

The reality on the ground is that the Vietnamese government have taken preventative action to help contain the virus:

• Health screening at airports and land borders;
• No flights between China and Vietnam;
• No entry for travelers having visited China in the last 14 days;
• People coming back from China are quarantined in an isolated hospital for 2 weeks;
• All suspected cases or anyone who have contacts with infected patients is well supervised by the medical staff in the medical center;
• Clear information is updated hourly on Government and MOH websites.

Vietnam government has locked down Son Loi Commune, 50km from Hanoi, where eleven cases have been traced back to this area, originating from returning workers from Wuhan, China (4 cured). We would like to stress that these are positive measures to simply help prevent further spread. And this village is not a tourist destination or featured in any of our itineraries.

The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has put out an updated list of countries where British travelers should monitor their symptoms if they have recently traveled there. These include:

• Thailand
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• Macau
• Taiwan
• Japan
• South Korea

It is important to note that to date this list does NOT include Vietnam or Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar. We look forward to continuing to welcome your guests to Vietnam during this challenging time for the tourism industry.

If you have guests that are considering cancellation and would like to talk to someone in-country, please consider the option of putting them in touch with us.

Due to a large amount of misinformation about the coronavirus, we recommend checking the World Health Organization’s page for updates.

Life is going on in Vietnam ...

Protect yourself and others from getting sick

On 12 February 2020, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh - Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism sent a Letter to Vietnam Tourism’s supporters, business partners and friends to inform the most updates on Vietnam Tourism’s proactive action in controlling the impact of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) and confirm that tourist spots in Viet Nam still open.