Situation in SE Asia

 

Thailand
Over 61 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been ordered in addition to the Chinese one and the vaccine rollout began last month. There are plans to waive quarantine arrangements for vaccinated travellers and to prioritise the vaccination of hospitality workers. They plan to reopen to tourism in June this year.

Cambodia
After a slow start, the first AstraZeneca vaccines have now arrived along with the Chinese ones. There is no clear date as to when travel restrictions will be lifted but we anticipate they will follow Thailand’s lead.

Laos
The Russian vaccine is planned to roll out in April and some of the Chinese vaccine has already been supplied to key workers. Again, there is no clear date for reopening. Laos tends to follow Vietnam in these things.

Vietnam
The first AstraZeneca doses have now arrived and the vaccine programme has started with further doses on order which includes the Russian one. Like Thailand Vietnam is looking at reopening to vaccinated tourists by the summer.

Myanmar
With the recent military coup, the situation has become confused. It seems that initial orders for the Indian vaccine have been cancelled in favour of the Russian and Chinese ones. So far there has been no vaccine roll out that we know of other than to frontline medical workers back in January.

India
Over 20 million people have already been vaccinated with the India vaccine and the rollout is moving very fast. The tourism ministry is planning to open to foreign tourists quite soon. India may well be the first of our Asia destinations to reopen and get back to normal.