Promising changes are on the horizon for those wishing to return to Vietnam.

VnExpress reports that starting January 1, fully vaccinated individuals or those who have recovered from COVID-19 will only have to self-isolate at home for three days after arriving in Vietnam. This is a shift from the current requirement of seven days of quarantine at either a hotel or a government facility. 

Arrivals must test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before their flight, and also install the PC-Covid app for health monitoring. Children under the age of two will not have to undergo a PCR test. 

Those who qualify for the above self-isolation rules will be tested for the virus on their third day of isolation, and if they test negative, they will be free to move about, though they will be required to avoid crowded places for an additional 11 days. Unvaccinated individuals will have to quarantine for seven days, and will be tested on the third and seventh days. 

Foreign arrivals will have to pay for testing, quarantine and COVID-19 treatment costs, should that be necessary. 

The Vietnamese government has give the green light for inbound commercial flights to resume on January 1 from nine destinations, including Singapore, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei, as well as either San Francisco or Los Angeles, and Beijing or Guangzhou.

While this news has been welcomed by many, it remains unclear whether the current pre-approval paperwork for international visitors will be done away with, or which airlines will be able to operate on these routes.