The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has raised the alert level for travel to Vietnam, adding the Southeast Asian country to the group of “high-risk” countries due to an increase in infections during the COVID-1 outbreak worst since late April.
Vietnam is on the list of countries at warning level 3, just after the highest warning level about travel during the corona virus pandemic for US citizens. Also on the list, to the extent that the CDC advises unvaccinated people to avoid travel, also includes two other countries in Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Cambodia. India and Japan are two other Asian countries on the list of 65 countries and territories that the CDC has put on this “high risk” warning level.
The CDC’s “very high” alert level 4 advises US citizens not to travel to 74 countries around the world, including Thailand and Indonesia. According to CDC parameters, countries in the “very high” risk group are those that have recorded more than 500 infections per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.
The US government’s health agency warned its citizens to be fully vaccinated before coming to Vietnam and those who have not been vaccinated “should avoid unnecessary travel” to the Southeast Asian country because of the current situation there.
“Every traveler may be at risk of contracting or spreading variant strains of COVID-19,” the CDC said in its Vietnam advisory.
In early August, the CDC put Vietnam on the list of countries at warning level 2 with a “moderate” risk.
The CDC raised the alert level from 2 to 3 for travel to Vietnam as the number of community infections in the Southeast country consecutively set new records in recent weeks because of the Delta variant, with the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and many southern provinces are in a state of blockade.
The highest record was recorded on August 8 when there were 9,690 new infections in a day. According to the Ministry of Health, Vietnam had nearly 236,901 cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,487 deaths from this disease as of August 11. Nearly 233,000 infections and most of the deaths were recorded in the latest outbreak that began on April 27.
US citizens returning from Vietnam must have test negative for COVID-19 no more than 3 days before travel or have proof of COVID recovery issued within 3 months before boarding the return flight to the United States, according to the CDC.
The agency also advises US citizens to get tested for coronavirus 3 to 5 days after returning from Vietnam and self-monitor for symptoms.
The US is the largest donor to Vietnam related to the COVID-19 epidemic so far, with nearly $21 million, 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine, and technical support. According to the US Embassy in Hanoi on August 5, the US is “committed to supporting Vietnam in defeating COVID-19.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
