Indonesia will shorten mandatory quarantine time to five days from the previous seven for arrivals from February 4, in an effort to bolster tourism, especially in Bali resort island.

Workers pack up the parasols to close the beach in Seminyak, Bali (Photo: Reuteres)

The new regulation is applicable for those who have received two shots of COVID-19 vaccine, while people with only one jab still have to stay seven days in quarantine.

Bali will open to all foreign tourists starting February 4 to foster the local economy hard-hit by the ongoing pandemic.

On February 2, the Lao national committee for COVID-19 prevention and control announced that the country has received more than 18 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, a sufficient amount to inoculate the country’s over 7 million people.

The Lao authorities believed that the rapid implementation of the vaccination campaign will help the country realise its target of immunising 80 percent of the population and reaching herd immunity so as to open its border and launch a tourism strategy facilitating the national economic recovery.

As of February 2, more than 4.1 million people in Laos, equivalent to 56.07 percent of the population, had received two shots of COVID-19 vaccines.

This week, many schools reopened for final-year students, in line with procedures approved by the Lao national committee on COVID-19 prevention and control.

The Lao Ministry of Health on February 3 announced that the country recorded 400 new COVID-19 infections and five deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 133,301, with 558 fatalities.

Source: VNA