Is it safe to travel Vietnam during the Coronavirus outbreak?

As Vietnam shares the border with China and welcomes a huge amount of Chinese visitors each year, it is not easy to avoid the outbreak of Coronavirus from our neighborhood country which causes anxiety for all the visitors who are coming and will come to Vietnam at this time. So, is it safe or not to travel to Vietnam right in the middle of the novel Coronavirus outbreak?

Is there any case of Coronavirus in Vietnam?

The answer is “yes”. The 2 first patients who were infected by Coronavirus (Covid-19) are Chinese father and son. The father was from Wuhan flew to Vietnam to visit his son who is working here and he was infected (but did not know about it). After this case, in the first outbreak, Vietnam found out 8 more patients who were infected Coronavirus, 1 of these patients is a receptionist who checked in for the 2 first patients above in a hotel while they were traveling, other people were trained in Wuhan before come back to Vietnam for Tet holiday. And until 26^th Feb 2020, all of the 16 Coronavirus infected cases, most of them are people who came back from Wuhan and their relatives & neighbors who met them during the Tet holiday, are cured and discharged from the hospital. All people believed that Vietnam can control the Coronavirus outbreak soon and there might be only a slight increase in the infected cases until the summer comes and high temperatures can limit the virus. 

Unfortunately, in the summer, after 99 days without any new Covid-19 patient found in the public, Da Nang - one of the biggest cities in Vietnam and an important tourism center become the new outbreak with hundreds of Coronavirus infected cases were found right at the middle of the domestic tourism season. All the country freaked out at that time with the worry of a strong comeback of the disease due to the evolution of the virus. Luckily, thanks to the fast reaction of the government, Da Nang is now opened and all city's activities work as normal. Up until now (21 Sept 2020), the second outbreak of Covid-19 is limited and it has been almost 20 days that no new patients are found in public. In total, at present, Vietnam has 1068 patients, but only a few of them are public cases and others are Vietnamese citizens who came back from overseas and were quarantined immediately when they landed in Vietnam which means there would be no threat of a new outbreak started from them.

Is it dangerous to visit Vietnam during the worldwide Coronavirus outbreak?

Although there are more than 1000 infected cases found (according to the statistic at the end of 21st Sept 2020), 941 patients were cured and have left the hospital already, others are believed that they will be cured soon and all are in stable condition. Different from the difficult general situation in many other countries, especially the USA, India, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico where the number of infected people and also death is increasing every day, the Vietnam government has isolated all Vietnamese citizens who come back from overseas these days (by some aid flights) and the number of newly infected cases is limited a lot now.

As an action to prevent the development of a Coronavirus outbreak in Vietnam, the Vietnamese government restricted all international flights and shut down all border gates, no one is allowed to in and out of the country except for diplomatic conditions and aid flights. Besides, the government also encourages locals not to congregate, especially in public places; besides, many big events were canceled to avoid the congregation; therefore, the possibility of spreading Covid-19 in Vietnam is limited at the lowest level. In fact, in this period, although the number of visitors to Vietnam declines rapidly, still many tourists are traveling to popular destinations like Hanoi, Halong, Sapa, Ninh Binh, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City, etc. and they do not really worry about the Coronavirus as it seems like the outbreak has not happened in Vietnam and the number of infected cases is really low (even lower than the number of seasonal flu cases in the United State and Australia). In addition, as the country overcome the second outbreak successfully, from the middle of this September, some international flights were opened between Vietnam and some Asian countries where the disease has been controlled well such as Japan (Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh - Tokyo), China (Ho Chi Minh - Guang Zhou), Korea (Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh - Seoul, Taiwan (Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh - Taipei), Laos and Cambodia. And please note that, at the moment, although some international economic flights are opened, the priority entry includes only diplomatic cases, civil servants, experts, senior workers, employees of key projects, and their family members. 

What to prepare to travel to Vietnam and prevent Coronavirus?

As the international flights between Vietnam and other countries have been being opened gradually, if you are planning to come to Vietnam soon, there are many things that you have to prepare to enter the country and also prevent Coronavirus during your trip. Please take a look at some must-prepare things below:

• Vietnamese Visa: you should contact the local Vietnam diplomatic mission soon enough to get the instruction for the Vietnamese Visa application during this time.
• Negative RT-PCR certificate for SARS-CoV-2: this document must be issued by the local health authority within 3 days before boarding and certified by Vietnam diplomatic missions in your locality.
• Confirmation of your quarantine zone: you can get this document from a qualified quarantined address such as a public house, factory, cooperated company or hotel, or military centralized isolation area, to confirm that you will be quarantined there after arriving in Vietnam. 
• Vietnam Health Declaration: this form can be filled online before or/and when you arrive in Vietnam, the airlines and immigration staff will help you with that.
• Medical mask: if you are an eco-lover, you can bring along 1-2 cloth masks and wash them every day. On the other hand, as the price of the 1-use medical masks in Vietnam is back to normal when the outbreak has limited, you can bring some masks during your flights and when you enter Vietnam in the airport; after that, you can buy a box of 1- use medical masks in any pharmacies in Vietnam at the price of VND 50,000 - 70,000/box (about USD 2 - 3/box).

Medical masks are helpful to protect you from virus

• Hand sanitizer: WHO recommends that washing hands is one of the most important and effective ways to be prevented from the Coronavirus. However, it is not easy to find clean water and soap whenever you need to wash your hand, therefore, 1-2 bottles of hand sanitizer are a must in your travel luggage. Just like the medical mask, you can buy hand sanitizer easily in supermarkets, convenience stores, or pharmacies at very reasonable prices now as people here no longer hunt for it; on the other hand, before you can buy hand sanitizer in Vietnam, you should bring along at least one small bottle to use during your flight. Some reputable hand sanitizer brands that you can find in Vietnam are Lifebuoy, Green Cross, Kleen, and On1.

Hand sanitizer should be used to wash your hand usually while traveling

• Vitamins: everyone knows that vitamins can help a lot to increase the resistance of the human body; therefore, you should bring along multivitamins (especially vitamin C) and also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables during your trip.
• A bottle of water: water is important to keep your throat wet and prevent the virus attack it, it also can help to detoxify your body. You can bring along your bottle or just simply buy one bottle of water in Vietnam and reuse it for other days.

Use the travel water bottle to bring water along your trip and save the environment

Some other things that you should note down to prepare for your trip to Vietnam:

• As to get the air ticket and also process the check-in procedure at the airport, you must provide sufficient information such as your individual's name and contact phone number while in Vietnam; the address and phone number to contact the quarantine facility in Vietnam; the phone number of the organization that picks you up at the airport.
• Right before your flight, you must install the "Vietnam Health Declaration" & "Bluezone" apps and fill in a mandatory electronic medical declaration. Airlines staff will measure your body temperature and they can refuse to carry passengers whose body temperature exceeds 37.5 degrees Celcius.
• During the flight, you must wear a medical mask.
• If you plan to stay in Vietnam under 14 days and you are one of these cases: investors/experts/skilled workers/business managers and their relatives and entities as agreed with each country, or guests entering for diplomatic and official purposes and those in contact with experts and visitors entering with diplomatic and official purposes during their entry and work in Vietnam, so you don't have to be quarantined in 14 days. On the other hand, if you want to stay longer and not belong to any category as mentioned, you must be quarantined in at least 14 days when coming to Vietnam during this time.

Where to travel in Vietnam during the Coronavirus outbreak

Some studies said that the Coronavirus is strongest at the temperature of under 25^oC and it is easy to see that most of the infected cases of Coronavirus were found in the North of Vietnam where shares the border with China and has cold and wet weather these days. Therefore, if you want to travel Vietnam in this period, you should choose to visit the South and the South Central of Vietnam where the average temperature is about 30^oC, the weather is sunny, warm, and dry (which is not suitable for the existence of Coronavirus); some popular destinations that you can visit here are: Danang, Hoi An, Mui Ne, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, and Phu Quoc Island.   

A sunny day at Mekong Delta - there is no winter here, a safe place during the Coronavirus outbreak

In general, being afraid and worrying about the disease is a must as you will be ready and prepare to avoid it; however, don't be so scared about it as the fear may prevent you from enjoying your life. Vietnam is not 100% safe during the Coronavirus outbreak; however, if you are strong and travel smartly and carefully, you still can explore this beautiful country safely.

MinKJ

Image source: Internet