Vietnam’s Ministry of Health is tracking down passengers on seven more flights that carried patients of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and landed in the Southeast Asian country this month.
The ministry calls on passengers on the following international flights to immediately contact local Centers for Disease Control to have their health checked:
- Flight EK364 of Emirates Airlines from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City on March 15
- Flight SU290 of Aeroflot from Moscow to Hanoi on March 15
- Flight TG560 of Thai Airways from Bangkok to Hanoi on March 15
- Flight BI 381 of Royal Brunei Airlines from Brunei to Ho Chi Minh City on March 17
- Flight EK392 of Emirates Airlines from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City on March 19
- Flight NH831 of All Nippon Airways (ANA) from Japan to Ho Chi Minh City on March 19
- Flight JL751 of Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Hanoi on March 20
Booking offices have to inform the passengers on the said flights of the ministry’s search.
The health ministry has issued announcements to look for passengers on 31 international flights and nine domestic services in total, for COVID-19 patients had been identified on board.
Vietnamese authorities have found amost all of the 4,000 passengers aboard 24 of the international flights.
There are only 100 left, including those having exited Vietnam.
Postive cases have been confirmed among the tracked passengers.
Vietnam is beefing up its fight against COVID-19 by closing restaurants and entertainment places such as bars, pubs, clubs, massage parlors, karaoke lounges, and online game centers in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s busiest metropolis.
Hanoi has also told residents to stay home as often as possible and maintain other forms of social distancing to staunch the spread of the virus.
The Vietnamese government has said the next two weeks is decisive in their suppression of the COVID-19 epidemic, with resources to be focused on detecting cases early, isolating them and their contacts, limiting cross infection, and managing to treat patients.
Vietnam presently requires all arrivals to be isolated in collective quarantine camps for 14 days -- the advised incubation period of the virus.
The country has barred entry to all foreigners and demands all entrants declare their health status.
Passengers are required to fill out health declaration forms when traveling on long-haul buses, trains, tourist boats, and domestic flights.
Seventeen out of the confirmed 134 cases had fully recovered and been discharged from Vietnam's hospitals by Friday last week.
No coronavirus-related fatality has been recorded in the country.
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