Da Nang authorities have prohibited crowded events and ordered non-essential services to shut down after Vietnam confirmed two locally-transmitted coronavirus infections on the weekend.

The municipal People’s Committee has imposed social distancing measures from 1:00 pm on Sunday until further notice, including a ban on gatherings of more than 30 people in public and closure of non-essential services.

The measures were taken after the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control announced two coronavirus cases, whose sources of infection are still unknown, in Da Nang on Saturday and Sunday.

The two patients are in a critical condition.

These are the first community transmissions in Vietnam in more than three months.

People in Da Nang are required to wash their hands frequently with soap or sanitizer and wear face masks when outdoors, while maintaining a one-meter distance in social interactions, according to an order by the People’s Commitee.

A ban is now imposed on gatherings of more than 30 people outside public offices, schools, and hospitals.

The order also forbids festivals, religious rituals, sports competitions, and other crowded events.

Non-essential services like entertainment venues, spas, karaoke bars, massage parlors, and discos have been ordered to shut down.

Lotteries, hotels, lodging facilities, restaurants, and retail and wholesale venues can continue operating but they have to take preventative measures.

Inter-province and intra-province transport can go on as long as safety measures are in place.

Essential political, social, and economic events can be organized with approval from local authorities.

Da Nang has halted all international flights since one of the two community-transmitted cases, a 57-year-old man, was documented as Vietnam’s 416th patient on Saturday.  

Vietnam has registered 418 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday afternoon, with 365 recoveries and zero deaths.

The country had gone 99 days without a single local transmission before the two community cases were confirmed.

It still closes borders to foreigners but foreign experts and skilled workers are allowed to enter the country, subject to government approval and compulsory quarantine on arrival.

The government has sent planes to other nations to repatriate Vietnamese citizens, also quanrantined upon landing.

Officials in Da Nang and its neighbor Quang Nam Province have detected dozens of Chinese illegally entering Vietnam and staying in local lodging facilities this month.

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