VIETNAM will resume passenger bus services again across the country on a trial basis with limited capacity.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said the services would resume from tomorrow (Wedneday) until Oct 20.
According to a Vn Express report, he said there will be no restrictions on passengers travelling from one low risk area to another.
However, people from high risk areas must either be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or have recovered from the disease within the last six months, and test negative for the coronavirus at least 72 hours prior.
Those with symptoms like coughing, muscle aches and fever will not be allowed to board buses.
He said drivers and attendants must be vaccinated and tested with similar requirements.
The easing on transportation comes as Vietnam prepares a transition towards living with Covid.
Meanwhile, many people who wanted to fly to Hanoi for work or family reunions have cancelled their travel plans due to the seven-day quarantine requirement in the capital city.
All local flights in Vietnam had been suspended for two months due to the surge in Covid-19.
Civil aviation authorities restarted flights on 19 domestic routes from last Sunday.
From Oct 10 to 20, there would be one return flight daily between Hanoi and the southern metropolis Ho Chi Minh City.
Due to limited flights, tickets prices are also up to three times higher than pre-pandemic prices on certain routes.
Many travellers are also concerned with the cost of hotel quarantine and testing that may run up to VND10 million or even higher.
Passengers from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi will have to stay in centralised quarantine facilities or designated hotels for seven days, and monitor their health at home the following seven days.
The aviation authority has also suggested that the transport ministry remove the centralised quarantine requirement for air passengers currently applied in several localities.
Some provinces such as Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Binh have also imposed a seven-day centralised quarantine for air passengers.
However, authorities are most concerned on arrivals from Ho Chi Minh City, which is the epicentre of the latest wave of Covid-19 infections in Vietnam.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam had said that the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi could not take off on Sunday as authorities failed to issue a specific centralised quarantine guideline for arrivals from the city.
Those who had purchased tickets will now be allowed to travel another day.
Also Sunday, Hanoi authorities had issued a list of 20 two to five-star hotels designated as quarantine facilities for passengers arriving from Ho Chi Minh City.
The prices ranged from VND1.3-6.9 million (US$57.22-303.58) a night.
If passengers don't want to be quarantined in these designated hotels, they can choose to enter military-run centralised facilities.
The Vn Express said Hanoi officials pointed out that this was a "necessary measure" to safeguard the political and administrative heart of the country against the pandemic.
Officials said the capital city had just undergone three periods of social distancing at different levels but there was still a very high risk of further outbreaks.
Over the past weeks, Hanoi has recorded a series of community transmissions related to an outbreak at the Viet Duc Hospital, prompting city authorities to take safety measures to protect the capital.