Tourists join a boat tour inside a mangrove forest in HCMC's Can Gio District, July 2020. (Photo: VnExpress/Quynh Tran)

Visitors aged under 18 must furnish a negative COVID-19 test certificate obtained within 48 hours before arrival. These are among newly issued safety regulations for the city's tourism industry as HCMC starts to gradually resume tourism activities in so-called 'green zones' where the pandemic situation has been brought under control.

At facilities offering tourists accommodation, all employees who have to make frequent contact with them are required to be fully immunized at least 14 days prior to resuming work or furnish a certificate showing they had contracted and recovered from Covid. Employees who do not need to be in frequent contact have to get at least one shot and unvaccinated staff can only work remotely.

Those directly serving tourists such as receptionists and restaurants' staff will be tested every three days. All staff must wear masks and gloves and establishments need to have at least one quarantine room to deal with suspected COVID-19 cases.

Tours will only to allowed to 'green zones', those deemed of low COVID-19 risks. Tour guides and drivers must undergo COVID-19 rapid testing every three days.

All tourists must also wear masks and comply with all pandemic prevention measures. At outdoor tourist attractions, the number of visitors should not exceed 30 percent of capacity.

Ho Chi Minh City is the epicenter of the fourth wave that began in late April, and has had nearly 338,000 cases to date. It suspended all tourism activities to contain the pandemic.

It organized two tours to Can Gio and Cu Chi Districts, where the pandemic has been brought under control, for 227 fully vaccinated frontline workers in the pandemic on Sunday to mark the resumption of tourism.