Visiting VIETNAM
Heads up if you are planning a trip to Vietnam; the mandatory 14-day quarantine is still in place if you wish to enter the country. This was posted on South East Asia Backpacking social media page yesterday to clear up some recent confusion over the recent announcement of Vietnamese e-visas.

So you can apply for an electronic visa that they have bañned, did I miss something?

Japan considering re-opening door to some foreigners

This ariticle and its theme is becoming a concern to me stuck outside Cambodia. The once mighty European and US passport, renowm for opening virtually all doors without fuss, it at risk of becoming a very unwelcome document. I just hope it is just a short transitional phase.

"Japan is considering re-opening its borders to travellers from selected countries which have low levels of coronavirus infections, as it begins to ease restrictions put in place earlier this year to control the outbreak."

"...the government is also planning to allow travellers from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand into the country in the coming months."

"Southeast Asia accounts for just 4.4% of global COVID-19 infections, according to the World Health Organisation, much lower than the Americas or Europe, which each account for roughly 40%."

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-healt ... KKBN238144

Doc67 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:53 pm
"Southeast Asia accounts for just 4.4% of global COVID-19 infections, according to the World Health Organisation, much lower than the Americas or Europe, which each account for roughly 40%."

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-healt ... KKBN238144

USA, Brazil, UK and Russia are the biggest scorers in the Covid crisis at the moment, but look how things have changed in only a few months. China, Korea, Italy, Spain and France were in the lead at the beginning. Coronavirus outbreaks in Africa may be starting now and India has serious problems containing infection in some regions. There could easily be another outbreak in SE Asia which will shut everything down again. It's not over yet IMO.

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:33 pm

Doc67 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:53 pm
"Southeast Asia accounts for just 4.4% of global COVID-19 infections, according to the World Health Organisation, much lower than the Americas or Europe, which each account for roughly 40%."

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-healt ... KKBN238144

USA, Brazil, UK and Russia are the biggest scorers in the Covid crisis at the moment, but look how things have changed in only a few months. China, Korea, Italy, Spain and France were in the lead at the beginning. Coronavirus outbreaks in Africa may be starting now and India has serious problems containing infection in some regions. There could easily be another outbreak in SE Asia which will shut everything down again. It's not over yet IMO.

I agree. Asian countries shut down and killed their economies and livelihoods to achieve those low rates. It can be argued whether this was worth it or not, the future will tell, but currently the narrative seems to remain the same so it’s unlikely they will risk an opening. Especially with cases still being so high in Europe and North America.

Every day there are planes from Heathrow etc landing in HK for example, and on pretty much every flight some infections are found. China just allowed one charter plane in from Frankfurt yesterday and immediately found a case.

Although continuing to shut the borders will devastate Cambodia just as much, they seem to think that all that hardship in the past few months would have been in vain if they would open up now.

theKid wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:00 pm all that hardship in the past few months would have been in vain if they would open up now.

The situation is akin to share or forex market trading without a stop-loss order. Normally, one should issue a stop-loss order to limit the size of loss if the market does not go as expected. The trader admits the mistake, takes a manageable loss and moves on to the next trade. Trading without a stop-loss order can reduce the trading capital to zero if the trader is stubborn long enough to admit they were wrong.

theKid wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:00 pm
Although continuing to shut the borders will devastate Cambodia just as much, they seem to think that all that hardship in the past few months would have been in vain if they would open up now.

Don't forget that all of Cambodia's neighbors have closed their land borders, and a majority of regional airport hubs are also closed for the moment. Cambodia is in fact open for visitors if you can find a flight (and get tested and buy health insurance), and they are only demanding quarantine for flights where a covid-19 case is detected on arrival.
What else would you suggest they to do to open up ? Until the neighbors open up too, Cambodia doesn't have much choice.

theKid wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:00 pm

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:33 pm

Doc67 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:53 pm
"Southeast Asia accounts for just 4.4% of global COVID-19 infections, according to the World Health Organisation, much lower than the Americas or Europe, which each account for roughly 40%."

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-healt ... KKBN238144

USA, Brazil, UK and Russia are the biggest scorers in the Covid crisis at the moment, but look how things have changed in only a few months. China, Korea, Italy, Spain and France were in the lead at the beginning. Coronavirus outbreaks in Africa may be starting now and India has serious problems containing infection in some regions. There could easily be another outbreak in SE Asia which will shut everything down again. It's not over yet IMO.

I agree. Asian countries shut down and killed their economies and livelihoods to achieve those low rates. It can be argued whether this was worth it or not, the future will tell, but currently the narrative seems to remain the same so it’s unlikely they will risk an opening. Especially with cases still being so high in Europe and North America.

Every day there are planes from Heathrow etc landing in HK for example, and on pretty much every flight some infections are found. China just allowed one charter plane in from Frankfurt yesterday and immediately found a case.

Although continuing to shut the borders will devastate Cambodia just as much, they seem to think that all that hardship in the past few months would have been in vain if they would open up now.

Every day there are planes from Heathrow etc landing in HK for example, and on pretty much every flight some infections are found. China just allowed one charter plane in from Frankfurt yesterday and immediately found a case.

Do you have a source for this? I'm interested in keeping a very close eye on this matter being stuck in the UK.

Thanks

The irony is that Cambodia left itself wide open to be deluged with cases but had virtually none. For some reason, many theories of which have been offered up on other threads, it has got away with very low infection or, more likely, very low conversion of infection into Covid-19 disease cases requiring hospitalisation.

Now they have belatedly instituted measures that stop a non existent epidemic, what metric are they waiting for to announce it is under control? Zero cases? It will probably get there, but then what?

30% plus of their GDP is a huge price to pay, and keep paying, for a pandemic that did it no harm when they were wide open. What are they so afraid of?

Their apparel exports - another 30% of GDP(?) is getting hammered through no fault of their own, will continue for some time and is going to be extremely damaging on it's own. The collapsing of their tourist sector, entirely self inflicted and largely reversible, could turn a drama into a real crisis.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 3:23 pm The collapsing of their tourist sector, entirely self inflicted

i don't agree
even if cambodian borders remained open, there would not have been too many tourists

now, there's a risk of allowing infection in
does the benefit from receiving a handful of adventurous travelers outweigh the risk?