Myanma resumed operation of commercial flights on April 17, 2022 after a two-year closure. - AFP
YANGON (Xinhua): Myanmar's Ministry of Health on Sunday (May 1) lifted the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated travellers who test negative for Covid-19 in a rapid test at the Yangon International Airport.
The rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for Covid-19 at the airport costs 15,000 kyats per testing for travellers, and the result comes within an hour, the health ministry said.
All foreign travellers entering the country before Sunday had to wait in quarantine at designated hotels for about 24 hours for the RT-PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test result.
All travellers entering the country until now were still obliged to present both a certificate of vaccination completed at least 14 days before arrival and a negative result in an RT-PCR performed within 72 hours of their arrival.
They are still required to submit Covid-19 medical insurance purchased from Myanma Insurance and a health declaration form, the ministry said.
The health ministry also shortened the quarantine period for the travellers entering the country with relief flights and through land border gates, from five days to three days for fully vaccinated travellers and from seven days to five days for those who are not fully vaccinated.
Myanmar's health ministry said it has lifted and shortened the quarantine periods as the Covid-19 positivity rate of incoming tourists was very low.
"With decreasing Covid-19 infections in most of the countries in the region including our country and higher vaccination rate in the country, it is prioritised to systematically relax Covid-19 restrictions," Union Minister for Health Thet Khaing Win said at the recent meeting on launching of the RDT.
The country resumed operation of commercial flights on April 17 after a two-year closure, and until April 26, 4,412 travellers have entered Myanmar via Yangon international airport. Only 15 of them tested positive for Covid-19, a 0.34 per cent positivity rate.
During the same period, 990 travellers arrived in Myanmar with relief flights, and only six of them tested positive for Covid-19, a 0.61 per cent positivity rate.
The health ministry's official figures showed that over 23.47 million people in Myanmar have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The country registered 17 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 612,900. The total death toll from Covid-19 in the country remains unchanged at 19,434.
An additional 14 patients have recovered on Sunday, taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 591,826, the data showed.
