The program supports airports around the globe in introducing preventive hygiene, health and safety measures against the coronavirus pandemic.

The ACI evaluated cleaning and disinfection procedures, physical distancing, staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications, and passenger facilities for the certification, which is valid for 12 months.

When the pandemic broke out in Vietnam last January, Noi Bai, the country’s second largest airport after HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat, adopted a number of preventive measures such as disinfecting periodically, installing a thermal sensor to check passengers’ temperature and automatic check-in equipment, using an air cleaning system to reduce the spread of the virus, installing bulkheads at check-in and boarding counters to prevent droplets.

Passengers and airport staff were required to wear masks and use hand sanitizers.

The HCMC and Da Nang airports are also being considered for the accreditation.

Since March, when the government imposed flight bans and travel restrictions, Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai have been receiving a large number of Vietnamese returning home from abroad amidst pandemic fears.

Vietnam has had 1,339 infection cases and 35 deaths so far. It has now gone 86 days without local transmission.

Globally, 118 airports have got the health accreditation, including Singapore’s Changi, Hong Kong and Cambodia's Siem Reap in the Asia-Pacific.