Thailand may waive rule for vaccinated tourists
BANGKOK • Thailand may scrap mandatory quarantine for foreign visitors vaccinated against Covid-19 as it may help the nation revive its tourism industry, according to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Foreigners visiting Thailand may be allowed to skip the two-week isolation if they furnish vaccination certificates but the authorities will continue to track them, Mr Prayut said after a Cabinet meeting in Bangkok yesterday.
The government will carefully consider all aspects of such a move before implementing it, he said.
BLOOMBERG
Australia speeds up immunisation drive
SYDNEY • Australia will ramp up its Covid-19 immunisation drive with more shots to be rolled out next week, Health Minister Greg Hunt said, after a second shipment of the vaccine reached the country overnight.
About 166,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived on Monday as the country entered the second day of a nationwide inoculation programme for its 25 million population.
Total weekly doses will be raised to 80,000 next week from 60,000, with the number to reach one million weekly by the end of next month.
REUTERS
Front-liners to be among first to get jabs in Vietnam
HANOI • Vietnam's government yesterday said health workers, diplomats and military personnel would be among the first to be vaccinated against Covid-19 when the country starts its inoculation programme next month.
The country with a population of 98 million said it will receive 60 million vaccine doses this year, including half under the World Health Organisation-led Covax scheme.
In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam aims to inoculate 500,000 medical staff and 116,000 others directly involved in the fight against the pandemic.
REUTERS
Taiwan to keep strict control measures in place
TAIPEI • Taiwan will continue to impose strict control measures from next Monday as the Covid-19 pandemic remains severe across the world.
Besides requiring a negative Covid-19 test result within three days when boarding a flight to Taiwan, passengers will be quarantined for 14 days in a quarantine hotel room, a designated quarantine centre or a private home where only the person on quarantine stays.
People will have to continue wearing face masks at public venues such as hospitals, schools and exhibition halls, as well as aboard public transport, said Taiwan's epidemic monitoring agency.
XINHUA
