The Ministry of Health and Sports has allowed domestic flights to resume on December 16th with new health and safety requirements. In addition to face masks, social distancing and spaced seating, passengers are required to pay for a rapid diagnostic COVID-19 test and obtain a health screen 36 hours prior to departure. Passengers coming from townships with ongoing stay-at-home orders (which includes most of Yangon), are subject to a quarantine in a hotel or other facility, the Ministry said.

Although Myanmar has now surpassed 110,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, daily new cases have hovered at 1000-1500 for the past month. Meanwhile, strict lockdowns continue to batter the economy, especially tourism. The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism recently revealed that revenue from transportation, dining, hospitality and other industries in the tourism sector has plunged 80% during the pandemic. Such a drop is unsurprising; most visa programs have been suspended, most international flights have been grounded, and domestic flights have been halted and re-started twice since the pandemic began almost a year ago.

Yet the government is working to rebuild its tourism sector with a focus on domestic travel. The plan includes the opening of four new officially-sanctioned tourism destinations this month, as well as promoting flight tours, river cruises, and other socially-distanced activities.