Capital to prepare budget hotels for quarantine

Deputy Chairman of the Ha Noi People’s Committee Ngo Van Quy

Mr. Quy made the announcement on October 8 at a meeting of the Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control. 

According to Mr. Quy, a pilot return commercial flight (flight No VN417) from the RoK landed in Ha Noi on September 25, bringing home 89 people including children, students, unemployed workers, and others with difficult circumstances. 

So far, in Ha Noi, pay-to-stay quarantine service fee is VND 2.6 million per day (US$ 113) excluding testing fees. The rate is relatively high for a 14-day mandatory quarantine period (at a minimum cost of US$ 1,582). Meanwhile, military-controlled quarantine camps chargeonly VND 1.6 million (US$ 70) for all 14 days. So that almost all returnees applied for quarantine camps which are not adequate for all people. 

Hence, it is necessary to prepare more budget hotels charging reasonable prices for the returnees.

Deputy Director of the Ha Noi Tourism Department Ngo Minh Hoang was quoted as saying that so far, 37 hotels have registered to provide quarantine services, of which 15 have been approved.  

Of the 15 designated hotels, 12 had average occupancy rates of 58.7%, some had over 90%. 

Mr. Quy also underlined to necessity of living with the pandemic in the new period as Ha Noi is coping with risks of community infection due to illegal immigration. 

The local leader tasked districts to prevent disease transmission; enforce mask wearing at public places; and seriously implement disease prevention measures at hospitals as well as medical facilities.

Since September 1, arrivals to Viet Nam have had to pay for the cost of their mandatory 14-day quarantine. 

Charter flights to the country have only been arranged to bring in experts, skilled workers, and diplomats, and to repatriate Vietnamese citizens stranded in other nations and territories due to the pandemic.

By Kim Anh