Bhutan to lift mandatory five-day quarantine for incoming travellers

PMO announces that mandatory five-day quarantine will be lifted and replaced with a 24-hour quarantine for incoming travellers

Monks from the Paro monastic body performing a rite as 500,000 doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine arrive from the United States at Paro International Airport, Bhutan lst year (AP)

Bhutan’s prime minister announced on Sunday that there shall be no mandatory five-day quarantine period for travellers from 4 July onwards.

Officials in capital Thimphu said the strict measures imposed in the country at the beginning of the pandemic were “necessary” to safeguard it from Covid-19 that wreaked havoc globally. But they also acknowledged the “inconvenience to travellers” these measures caused.

Bhutan closed its borders at the beginning of the pandemic to all foreign tourists. A few days ago, on 30 June, Bhutan officials said the country will reopen for international tourists on 23 September — first time since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.