Vietnam will tighten foreign arrivals and toughen up border control measures to prevent illegal entry ahead of Tet holiday.

The order was made by the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on January 21.

The committee announced the completion of a streamlined information system to supervise the medical status of upcoming arrivals from pandemic-stricken countries. Under the new system, overseas citizens will fill out a health declaration at the moment they sign up for repatriation flights and provide an address of their stay after finishing quarantine.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam presides over a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control. Photo: Dinh Nam

The foreigners include experts, investors, business managers, skilled workers and their family members, Mr. Dam said.

He requested that concentrated quarantine sites must strictly comply with instructions of the Ministry of Health and those who violate quarantine rules must be strictly fined.

The deputy prime minister also asked localities to strengthen Covid-19 prevention and control measures and strictly enforce the measures ahead of and during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Localities across the country were asked to contact families of the returnees to update their health conditions and quarantine them if necessary, Mr. Dam added.

At the meeting, the Ministry of Health called for continuing the consistent strategy of outbreak prevention, detection, quarantining, zoning off, stamping out, and effective treatment.

Hoang Minh Duc, the deputy head of the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, said many countries have maintained strong measures to curb the spread of coronavirus and its variants.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has been working with other ministries and agencies to complete mechanisms relating to the study, production and access to Covid-19. Photo: Trung Kien

The Covid-19 pandemic is still expanding around the world with over 96 million infection cases and more than two million deaths in 220 countries and territories.

The new Covid-19 strain first seen in the UK has spread to 50 countries and territories while the variant found recently in South Africa has been reported in 23 countries and territories, according to the World Health Organization.

In Vietnam, some quarantine camps which host foreign experts and Vietnamese people returning from abroad had violated regulations, posing risks of spreading the virus, Mr. Duc added.

Although 46 countries around the world are implementing Covid-19 vaccination campaigns, it would take time to create herd immunity, according to experts at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health reported that it has been working with other ministries and agencies to complete mechanisms relating to the study, production and access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The health ministry is working with the ministries of Defense and Science and Technology to speed up domestic vaccine trials. The ministries of Health and Finance will develop mechanisms for vaccine production and supply if the vaccine trials are successful.

At the time of writing, the last community infection in Vietnam was confirmed 51 days ago but imported cases have been reported daily with the tally standing at 1,546. The majority of current patients were imported from overseas.