The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has ceased all flights from the Southeast Asian country to Wuhan City in China in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The CAAV has ordered its relevant units to cancel the licenses of all flights between Vietnam and Wuhan City, located in the Chinese province of Hubei.

Vietnamese and foreign airlines will not be granted new licenses to operate flights along this route.

The agency is keeping in touch with the Civil Aviation Administration of China to stay updated on the situation regarding the disease in China in order to make prompt adjustments to flights between Vietnam and other Chinese localities if necessary.

All Vietnamese carriers were required to contact authorities of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to come up with a suitable way to assist passengers who have purchased tickets for the canceled flights.

Meanwhile, international airports throughout Vietnam were asked to work closely with healthcare and quarantine agencies to monitor the body temperature of arriving passengers.

Those who show signs of being infected with the new coronavirus will be properly quarantined and treated.

A pneumonia outbreak, caused by a new strain of the coronavirus family that caused SARS and MERS, first surfaced in Wuhan City last December.

The disease has spread to many countries and territories, while China's National Health Commission has confirmed 541 infection cases and 17 deaths as of January 23.

A Chinese man and his son on Wednesday tested positive for the coronavirus at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, making them the first patients discovered in Vietnam.

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