THOSE entering Vietnam through the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City no longer have to prove their Covid-19 status.
The city's health department issued the new ruling that became effective Monday after considering the Covid-19 situation in the country and also Vietnam's decision to fully reopen the country to foreign tourists since last month.
The Vn Express reports that according to the department, passengers are already requested by airlines to submit a negative test result prior to departure.
Therefore, there is no need to check that certificate once more upon arrival, it said.
Tan Son Nhat airport now categorises people entering the country into two groups - those who have completed a medical declaration and those yet to do so.
Passengers with a health declaration QR code can go to the counter for immigration procedures while those without it will have to move into a separate aisle to complete the process.
The move also comes after Tan Son Nhat continuously suffered overloads recently, with the number of passengers passing through the airport steadily increasing as the country eased Covid restrictions for air travel since March 15.
Currently, about 40 overseas flights land at the airport daily, bringing up to 4,500 passengers to Vietnam.
Vietnam now allows quarantine-free entry and foreign tourists can travel freely without having to book package tours.
Meanwhile in South Korea, Incheon International Airport has requested the government to allow PCR test-free arrivals.
According to a Korea Times report, the request was made in anticipation that in-bound tourism would return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.
The Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) said it made a proposal to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to lift quarantine regulations by replacing mandatory PCR testing for arrivals with rapid antigen tests or mandating testing only for those with symptoms or arriving from high-risk regions.
Currently, all inbound passengers with full vaccination history must undergo a PCR test on the first day of their arrival and take a rapid test again within six to seven days after arrival.
Those violating these requirements are subject to a maximum one-year prison term or 10 million won fine.
The airport authorities feel the PCR test exemption could help the nation's tourism sector recover from the economic effects of the pandemic.
Airlines operating from Incheon International Airport connect South Korea with 59 other countries. Of these, 39 countries including European nations, have lifted PCR testing requirements for international arrivals.
The IIAC also proposed lifting the 8pm to 5am curfew on arriving aircraft.
With Covid-19 cases dropping and quarantine measures lifted, the number of inbound passengers from January to March this year exceeded 1.08 million.
The IIAC sees the country's travel recovery reaching 41 per cent of the pre-pandemic daily average of 194,986 in July, when the summer holiday season begins.
It expects the figure to reach between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.