Laos approves programme to welcome foreign tourists back from Jan 2022

People attend ThatLuang festival in Laos (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Lao government has approved the ‘Lao Travel Green Zone’ programme with an aim to welcome back tourists from January 2022.

The programme will see Lao capital Vientiane, Vangvieng town in Vientiane and Luang Prabang designated as "green zones", according to a plan of the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Areas described as green zones must have a vaccination coverage at 70-80 percent of the local population, while 90-95 percent of service providers must also be vaccinated.

The Lao government has set a target to receive about 1 million foreign and 1.2 million domestic tourists in 2022.

Laos reported the highest ever daily caseload of COVID-19 on December 10 with 1,645 new infections and seven deaths. The national tally reached 86,148, with 231 fatalities.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian government has allowed localities nationwide to roll out COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6-11 on December 24.

The National Agency of Drug and Food Control of Indonesia (BPOM) in early November approved the use of COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China’s biopharmaceutical company Sinovac for children of the age group.

Singapore has detected the first case of Omicron variant of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the community, the country’s Ministry of Health announced on December 9. The patient was a female employee at Changi airport, who had been fully vaccinated and did not exhibit any symptoms of COVID-19. 

The Health Ministry warned that Singapore will report new Omicron cases in upcoming days.

At present, 96 percent of Singapore population have been fully inoculated. Authorities are calling on people to receive booster shots to raise antibody levels and strengthen the body's defence against infection./.