the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has written to 25 cities and provinces asking them to review and add additional lodging facilities that will serve as quarantine rooms for Covid-19 infection prevention.

The ministry urged HCMC, Hanoi, Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Thuan, Binh Duong, Can Tho and Danang, among others, to provide a list of lodging facilities that had registered to serve as quarantine centers in March and add more accommodation facilities to the list to prepare for the time to come.

Many Vietnamese citizens and foreign experts, investors and students are set to enter Vietnam, according to the ministry.

The ministry’s new directive is aimed at implementing the prime minister’s directive during a Government meeting on Covid-19 infection prevention on July 10.

As many Vietnamese nationals need to return home and foreigners hope to enter the country for work, the prime minister asked the ministries of Health, National Defense and Culture-Sports-Tourism to join hands to expand the network of centralized quarantine areas.

A few days ago, the HCMC Department of Tourism wrote to the municipal government proposing the requisitioning of 1,618 rooms from 10 hotels and resorts as paid quarantine rooms for foreigners, who will enter the city for work.

As of late March, over 156 hotels, guesthouses and resorts nationwide, with over 14,700 rooms, had been requisitioned as quarantine centers to prevent Covid-19.

Some lodging facilities provided free rooms for quarantine purposes, while the prices of rooms at other guesthouses, hotels and resorts used as quarantine centers ranged from VND50,000 to VND3 million per night.

HCMC’s hotels to be selected for coronavirus isolation facilities

The HCMC Department of Health has submitted an urgent document to the municipal People’s Committee to approve the use of tourist accommodation in the city for coronavirus isolation 

There are 8 hotels that have been already to receive people under coronavirus quarantine, including Holiday Inn, De Nhat and BIS Saigon Airport in Tan Binh District; Bat Dat in District 5; Des Arts Saigon in District 3; Norfolk and Le Meridien Saigon in District 1; IBIS Saigon South in District 7.

These hotels have been checked for the safety and isolation requirements by the HCMC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health.
Vietnamese and foreign people can choose selected hotels for their mandatory two-week quarantine period and potential COVID-19 testing with service charges.

In March, there were two accommodations including Can Gio Ecological Tourist Area and Hon Ngoc Phuong Nam (Southern Pearl) Resort that received people under coronavirus quarantine. SGT/SGGP

Dao Loan/Mai Hoa

21 Chinese people illegally entering Vietnam quarantined for Covid-19 prevention

Authorities of the central province of Quang Nam have found 21 Chinese people who entered the country illegally and quarantined them for Covid-19 prevention.  

Tay Ninh hunts for 4 foreigners fleeing from COVID-19 quarantine camp

The southwestern province of Tay Ninh on July 11 announced the search for four foreigners who had fled a medical quarantine camp established to gather those entering Vietnam for medical surveillance against the COVID-19.