HCMC – The Ministry of Health has issued a dispatch shortening the quarantine time of fully-vaccinated people who are in close contact with Covid cases or those who have recovered from the disease in the last three months to five days from the current seven days.

Apart from the shortened quarantine period, the number of Covid tests required has been reduced from two to one. These people will undergo a Covid test on the fifth day of their quarantine period. As for other direct contacts who are not vaccinated against Covid or not fully vaccinated, they must quarantine at their homes, residences or quarantine facilities for seven days and take a Covid test on the seventh day of the quarantine period, the local media reported. The decision was made to harmonize the economic recovery with the control over the pandemic at firms, schools and agencies, while the country’s Covid vaccine coverage is very high, according to Deputy Minister Nguyen Truong Son, who signed the dispatch. Earlier on February 17, at a teleconference held by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed the former shorten the quarantine time for the close contacts of Covid cases who are teachers and students to facilitate the reopening of schools.