HCMC – The government of Hanoi has removed its quarantine requirement for people entering the capital city from Omicron-hit countries and territories, said Nguyen Manh Quyen, vice chairman of the municipal government.

The Hanoi government yesterday, December 30, worked with the Ministry of Transport and decided to scrap its Dispatch No. 310 issued on December 27 on measures to cope with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the city. The dispatch was previously scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2022, but Hanoi will implement quarantine requirements in line with the Health Ministry’s guidelines, Quyen said. The capital city earlier said in the dispatch that anti-Covid efforts at the Noi Bai International Airport must be intensified. The competent forces must also tighten measures to monitor passengers with a travel history linked to Omicron-hit countries and regions. According to the dispatch, Hanoi would quarantine all passengers arriving from Omicron-hit countries irrespective of their vaccination status or their recovery from Covid-19. Hanoi's quarantine requirement had raised a public controversy as it went against the Health Ministry’s regulations. Associate Professor, Dr Nguyen Huy Nga, former head of the ministry’s General Department of Preventive Medicine, said Hanoi imposing the mandatory quarantine on people from Omicron-hit countries was inappropriate. To ensure consistency in quarantine requirements nationwide, Hanoi should follow the ministry’s regulations, Nga added, reported Tuoi Tre newspaper. Nga was concerned that the quarantine mandate would hinder travel, especially the government’s efforts to safely adapt to the pandemic.