(Rangoon) Burma will resume international passenger flights from April 17, the army announced on Saturday, after two years of closure to foreign tourists.
Posted at 9:30 a.m.
“We will reopen all international flights on April 17,” the Central Committee for the Fight against Coronavirus announced in a statement, citing the drop in the number of infections and assuring that flights can be scheduled.
This decision aims to “improve the tourism sector and facilitate the travel of people who come to visit Burma,” the statement said.
The Southeast Asian country closed its borders in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus.
Burma has become a little more isolated after a coup last year and large bloody repression of demonstrations, plunging the economy and the tourist sector into a deep crisis.
A one-week quarantine, with two PCR tests, will be requested from visitors, who must be fully vaccinated, said the Ministry of Health.
The country recorded up to 40,000 daily contaminations during the peak of the epidemic last year and the official toll stands at nearly 20,000 deaths in total.
The violence that followed the military junta’s coup also scared away many foreign businesses.
More than 1,600 people have been killed by security forces and another 11,000 have been arrested, according to a local watch group.
The junta had indicated late last year that it planned to reopen its doors to foreign visitors in 2022, hoping to take advantage of the host of traditional local festivals.