HCM City issues quarantine procedure for arrivals in face of Omicron

If the
accommodation fails to meet these criteria, incoming passengers will have to go
into concentrated quarantine facilities.

The document
also states that passengers arriving in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhat International
Airport must comply with a five-step procedure as follows:

Step
1: Register
a ‘Personal QR code’, which can be created using the PC-COVID app or the HCM
City Safety Portal at https://antoan-covid.tphcm.gov.vn.

It is
advised that passengers should register for the code before boarding their
plane to Vietnam.

Step
2: Test
for SARS-CoV-2 immediately upon arrival

The Tan Son
Nhat International Airport will set up a rapid-testing area for SARS-CoV-2, and
coordinate with international airlines to instruct people to test for the
coronavirus at the airport. The ‘Personal QR code’ will be used to provide
information to the testing unit. 

If the
result is positive, the passenger will be taken for RT-PCR testing. HCM City
Centre for Disease Control (CDC) will work with the 115 Emergency Centre to
transport the patients to field hospitals for quarantine and treatment.

If the test
result is negative, the airport and the airlines will guide the person to
continue with the procedure to leave the airport for their residence.

Step 3: After arriving
at the accommodation, passengers must strictly comply with the 5K regulations

The
transporting vehicle must only include the driver and the passenger. In the
case when there are people who come to pick up the passengers, they must not
sit in the same vehicle (except for when the arrival is a foreigner who needs
an interpreter).

The
transporting vehicles for passengers must refrain from stopping and parking
along the route. In case of emergency when the vehicle needs to pull up, safety
measures for COVID-19 prevention and control must be taken. 

Step 4: Monitor and
declare health conditions on a daily basis

The place of
accommodation must register the new arrivals’ ‘Personal QR Codes’ immediately
upon arrival. Health declarations and confirmation of accommodation must be
reported on a daily basis during the quarantine period.

New arrivals
must also practise the 5K measures. If they experience symptoms of COVID-19
(cough, fever, difficulty in breathing, sore throat), they must immediately
report to the local medical centre for treatment.

Regarding
the period of quarantine:

For arriving
passengers who are fully inoculated or recovered from COVID-19, they must
monitor their own health status, refrain from coming into contact with other
people, and must not leave their accommodation for three days after the arrival
date.

For those
who are not vaccinated or fully inoculated, they must stay in their
accommodation for seven days after the arrival date.

For arriving
passengers who are under 18 or over 65, pregnant women, or have underlying
health conditions (but don’t have to be monitored and receive treatment from
medical facilities), they can go into quarantine with their
guardians/caretakers. 

The
guardians/caretakers must be fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19. They
are also required to sign a statement on their voluntary quarantine after
receiving an explanation on the risk of transmission.

They must
also comply with the regulations on testing and pandemic prevention and
control, the same as the new arrivals. 

Step 5: Conduct RT-PCR
testing during the quarantine period at the accommodation

If the test
result returns negative for SARS-CoV-2, the person will have to continue
monitoring their health status for 14 days after their arrival.

If the
result returns positive, the testing unit must report to the HCM City CDC to
transfer the sample to HCM City Pasteur Institute for genomic sequencing.

Local
medical centres where the patients are in quarantine will also be notified to
transfer the infected to Field Hospital No. 12 (for those with no to mild
symptoms) or HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases (for those with signs of
respiratory failure). 

Vietnam so
far has reported 20 Omicron infections, all imported cases which were all
immediately quarantined upon arrival and reportedly all asymptomatic or mild
cases. Six of them, including five in HCM City and one in Hanoi (Vietnam’s
first confirmed Omicron patient) have been given the all-clear after testing
negative for coronavirus./.