Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has restored full operations of domestic flights, trains, passenger buses, and boats to and from the central city of Da Nang after over a month of restrictions to contain the local COVID-19 outbreak.

Passenger transport via roadway, railway, waterway, and airway between Da Nang and other localities in the country was resumed at 0:00 on Monday, following a transport ministry document on Sunday.

Authorities in Da Nang previously proposed the resumption of passenger transport on Saturday, as the city now strives to effectively implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures while at the same time developing the economy and ensuring social welfare for all citizens.

In its document, the transport ministry asked the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, and the maritime, railway and inland waterway administrations to notify transport businesses of the restoration of regular routes to and from Da Nang.

The ministry stressed the importance of implementing COVID-19 prevention measures along the transport routes, and requiring passengers to wear face masks, fill out health declaration, and install Bluezone – a locally developed contact tracing app – on their smartphones.

Operators of coaches, trains, planes, and boats departing from Da Nang must make sure there is a safe distance between passengers on board the vehicles.

Vietnam has documented 1,049 COVID-19 cases, with 815 having recovered and 35 fatalities as of Monday morning, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

A total of 551 local cases, mostly linked to Da Nang, have been registered since July 25, when the beach city reported the first domestic transmission after the nation had gone 99 days without any community-based infections.

Enhanced social distancing was previously enforced in Da Nang from July 28 until August 11 to curb the spread of the virus. The period was extended on August 12 due to continued community transmission.

All flights and public transport into and out of the beach city were banned during this period.

Enhanced social distancing was eased in Da Nang at 0:00 on Saturday.

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