As Asian nations open up, where is travel allowed - and how can I do so safely?

Asian nations are slowly opening up their borders, giving vaccinated travellers the chance to again explore the region, Europe and the United States. But should one travel? If so, where to, and is it safe? This Week in Asia answers some of your basic pandemic travel questions.

A few countries in Asia - including popular travel destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore - have opened up to travellers in the hopes of reviving their tourism industries.

Experts say besides travellers themselves being fully-vaccinated, they should also assess if they are comfortable with the vaccination rate and health safety measures in the destination country.

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Singapore has fully vaccinated 83 per cent of its 5.5 million population. Thailand's national vaccination rate is about 35 per cent but the tourist island of Phuket has vaccinated seven in 10 of its residents. While Indonesia's vaccination rate is about 29 per cent, the resort island of Bali has vaccinated more than 80 per cent of its 4.4 million population.

While masks are still recommended in most countries, they are no longer legally required in many. The Netherlands government, for example, only mandates mask wearing on public transport and aircraft. In Phuket, masks are required in buildings but not in all public places; in Singapore and Bali, masking is mandatory in all public places.

Alex Cook, vice-dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said eager travellers should also pay attention to the details of border restrictions, pointing to how the city state once kept its border open to New Zealand but that arrangement was not reciprocated.

"You may be able to bypass quarantine when travelling from country A to B and back, and from A to C, but not from C to A," he said.

'Are we really ready?': the risks and rewards as Asia wakes up to travel

People should also be aware that there was a risk of arrangements being altered at short notice if the situation suddenly changed, Cook said, citing the ill-fated Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble that twice failed to launch.

"Travellers may need to be flexible with their plans to accommodate such changes," Cook said, adding that the bright side was that the risk of illness for those who were vaccinated was low, even if the destination had a high incidence of Covid-19.

"You could still catch Covid, and even mild Covid could really ruin a holiday, but this is little different from having a holiday ruined by flu in the olden days: it's just a risk we have to bear."

Not necessarily. A US study examining urban-rural disparities in Covid-19 exposures in South Carolina found that while urban areas had a higher total number of confirmed cases, their case rates (per 100,000 people) were lower than those of rural areas. This can be attributed to a range of factors - including testing, local policies, medical resources, and community awareness - so a direct relationship between population density and transmission risk is hard to prove. Nonetheless, most health authorities recommend avoiding crowded areas, especially in regions where community transmission is taking place.

Do so at your own risk, according to Professor Teo Yik-Ying from the NUS. Nightclubs have been the site of super-spreading events, especially where patrons are more cavalier about the use of face masks and community transmission is taking place. However, concert venues are a little different.

"We can broadly distinguish between rock concerts and instrumental concerts, and clearly the risk and participant profile will be different between the two," Teo said. "Rock concerts or similar settings are similar to nightclubs in terms of transmission risk; whereas instrumental concerts are generally of much lower risk."

The current science regarding the virus that causes Covid-19 is that while people can get infected through contact with surfaces, the risk is considered low. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said cleaning surfaces using soap or detergent was enough to reduce risk. Still, Teo said that hand sanitiser was always useful when travelling for hygiene purposes, even before the arrival of Covid-19.

"So I will certainly encourage travellers to bring along hand sanitiser and to use it before meals if there are no opportunities for handwashing," he said. "However, nothing beats the use of simple soap and water when it comes to handwashing, which should always be the default option if available."

Experts say yes as studies show that masking reduces virus transmission and vaccinations have not removed the need for mask-wearing.

"As long as the pandemic is still ongoing, mask-wearing is an effective and needed protective measure", said Joseph Kwan Kai-Cho, an adjunct professor who researches environmental infection control at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Even vaccinated individuals were vulnerable to potential risks, he said, because vaccines might have limited protection against mutated strains of the virus, and infected people might show few or no symptoms.

Teo from the NUS said dining outdoors generally lowered the risk of transmission because of natural ventilation, but that was only if measures were correctly implemented. He said many European and North American countries did not practise social distancing and "thus it will not be possible to insist that one's table is further separated from other neighbouring tables".

Kwan said there were multiple factors affecting the Covid-19 risks of a restaurant, including the occupancy rate; vaccination status of employees; placement and social distance between diners; and hygiene measures taken by the restaurant as well as diners.

Regardless of whether you're indoors or outdoors, experts say the best practice is to keep masks on except while eating to minimise the risk of transmission. Ventilation is key in indoor and outdoor environments.

During these times, when changes can happen overnight, it would be wise to make sure flights and accommodation allow for changes or refunds to bookings - and to purchase travel insurance. One should also perform thorough research and be up to date with the public health and entry requirements at travel destinations. Those travelling with unvaccinated children should follow the standard precautions of wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and maintaining good hand hygiene.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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