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Laos was receiving about 4.7 million foreign tourists each year before the pandemic. (File photo: AFP/Mladen ANTONOV) - 

Laos has announced plans to partially reopen to foreign travellers in the new year, throwing a lifeline to the tourism industry after borders were sealed for more than 18 months to keep out COVID-19.

Fully vaccinated visitors on pre-booked tours will be able to enter from Jan 1 and visit the capital Vientiane, eco-tourism hotspot Vang Vieng and UNESCO World Heritage-listed Luang Prabang, state media reported on Friday (Dec 17).

Further destinations will be opened up in April and July as vaccination rates in Laos increase.

But entry will only be available to tourists from 17 nations, mostly Southeast Asian and European countries as well as China, the United States, Australia and Canada.

All visitors will also need to test negative for COVID-19 before arriving.

The reclusive communist nation this month opened a US$6 billion Beijing-built railway that connects its capital to the south-western Chinese city of Kunming.

Health authorities are now rushing to deliver COVID-19 booster shots to people living in tourist spots along the train line in anticipation of an influx of travellers.

Laos was receiving about 4.7 million foreign tourists each year before the pandemic.

But COVID-19 led to an 80 per cent downturn in international visitor numbers in 2020, with the economy in the doldrums despite very few coronavirus cases in Laos in the early stages of the pandemic.

Economic growth declined to 0.4 per cent in 2020, the lowest in three decades, according to the World Bank.

Hopes for a rebound in 2021 were dashed after infection numbers skyrocketed in recent months.

Above Laos Ballooning Adventures, based in Vang Vieng, said it used to run two hot-air balloon flights a day during the high season.

But these days the small business is lucky to receive a single booking even at the weekend, manager La Noy told AFP.

Alex Tran, owner of the Camellia Hotel in Vang Vieng, said revenue was down 95 per cent because of the border closures.

"Many hotels in Vang Vieng are empty and have closed temporarily for around two years because there are no tourists," he told AFP.

There were not enough domestic travellers to sustain the sector, he added.

"After New Year, things are hoped to be better," Tran said//CNA

FILE PHOTO: People pose with syringe and needle in front of displayed World Health Organization (WHO) logo, in this illustration taken December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration - 

The Omicron coronavirus variant has been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in one-and-a-half to three days in areas with community transmission, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday (Dec 18).

Omicron is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, but it is unclear if this is due to the virus' ability to evade immunity, its inherent increased transmissibility or a combination of both, the WHO said in an update.

The agency designated Omicron a variant of concern on Nov 26, soon after it was first detected, and much is still not known about it, including the severity of the illness it causes.

"There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron," the WHO said. "More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity."

It added: "There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron."

The WHO warned that with cases rising so rapidly, hospitals could be overwhelmed in some places.

"Hospitalisations in the UK and South Africa continue to rise, and given rapidly increasing case counts, it is possible that many healthcare systems may become quickly overwhelmed."//CNA

Mualvi Alam Gull Haqqani (centre), head of the passport office, checks documents after the Taliban announced its reopening. (Photo: AFP) - 

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities said on Saturday (Dec 18) that they will resume issuing passports in Kabul, giving hope to citizens who feel threatened living under the Islamists' rule.

Thousands of Afghans have applied for new travel documents to escape a growing economic and humanitarian crisis described by the United Nations as an "avalanche of hunger".

Authorities will start issuing the documents from Sunday at Kabul's passport office, Alam Gul Haqqani, the head of the passport department in the interior ministry, told reporters.

The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their Aug 15 return to power, as tens of thousands of people scrambled to Kabul's only airport in a bid to catch any international flight that could evacuate them.

In October authorities reopened the passport office in Kabul only to suspend work days later as a flood of applications caused the biometric equipment used there to break down.

"All the technical issues have now been resolved," Haqqani said, adding that initially travel documents will be given to those who had already applied before the office suspended work.

New applications will be accepted from Jan 10, he said.

Many Afghans who wanted to visit neighbouring Pakistan for medical treatment have been blocked for months in the absence of valid passports.

"My mother has some health issues and we needed to go to Pakistan a long time ago, but we could not because the passport department was closed," said Jamshid, who like many Afghans goes by only one name.

"We are happy now that ... we can get our passports and go to Pakistan."

Issuing passports is also seen as a test of the Taliban's commitment to the international community to allow eligible people to leave amid the growing humanitarian crisis.

The Taliban are pressing donors to restore billions of dollars in aid that was suspended when the previous Western-backed regime imploded in the final stages of a US military withdrawal.

The abrupt withholding of aid has amounted to an "unprecedented" fiscal shock for an economy already battered by drought and decades of war, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

The crisis has forced many in the capital to sell household possessions to buy food for their families.

International flights, mainly to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have slowly resumed at Kabul airport after the facility was trashed in August when crowds of people scrambled to evacuate//CNA

People wearing face masks to protect against COVID-19 cross the Trocadero Plaza in Paris, on Dec 15, 2021. (Photo: AP Photo/Michel Euler) - 

French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Friday (Dec 17) likened the spread of the Omicron variant in Europe to "lightning", adding that it would be the dominant strain in France from the start of 2022.

Castex added that while much remains unknown about the variant "it does not seem to be more dangerous than the Delta variant and the data available to us indicate that complete vaccination coverage with the booster dose protects well against severe forms of the disease".

Nearly 3,000 people are in intensive care with COVID-19 in France according to the latest figures.

Meanwhile, eligibility for booster jabs will be reduced from five months from the date of the second vaccination to four, Castex added.

The prime minister said that big public parties and fireworks would be banned on New Year's Eve and recommended that people - even if vaccinated - test themselves before attending year-end parties.

To increase pressure on people to get vaccinated, the government will present a Bill early next year to change the French health pass into a vaccination pass.

That means people will have to be vaccinated to enter restaurants or use long-distance public transport.

Under current rules, a recent negative test can serve as a health pass even without vaccination.

"While we have given time, a lot of time for those French people who were hesitant and had doubts, in January we will strengthen the incentive for vaccination, because it is not acceptable that the refusal of a few million French people to be vaccinated, puts the life of an entire country at risk," he said.

The Omicron variant is now suspected to be responsible for up to 10 per cent of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in France and is the main reason behind plans for stricter health requirements for entering some venues, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Saturday.

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant was also behind restrictions being imposed on travel from Britain to France from Saturday, said the prime minister//CNA