Eight foreign nationals on Vietnam Airlines Flight VN0054, with Vietnam’s 17th coronavirus patient, are placed under quarantine in Haiphong City on March 8 – PHOTO: TNO

The municipal government said on Monday that 27 foreign tourists and 22 crew members had taken a trip to Lan Ha Bay on Cat Ba Island four days earlier.

Among them, a 66-year-old British woman who was on the same flight as Vietnam’s 17th coronavirus patient – a 27-year-old Vietnamese woman who returned to Hanoi from London on March 2 – was confirmed on late Sunday to have contracted the virus.

The tourist was the 30th Covid-19 patient in Vietnam. She travelled to the central city of Hue, where she was put under quarantine at the Hue Central Hospital on Saturday morning.

She is currently in stable condition with no fever, cough or breathing difficulties, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Sunday.

“A married British couple left Haiphong for Hue. The wife was found to have been infected with the disease in the city, so her husband was later quarantined,” a Haiphong leader told the news website VnExpress.

“We are tracking the itineraries of the remaining 25 tourists. Also, 16 of the 22 crew members have been taken to isolation facilities. We do not yet know where the remaining six people are,” added the leader.

The source noted that everyone aboard the ship was in close contact with the 30th coronavirus case and is subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine period.

On March 2, Vietnam Airlines Flight VN0054, which had departed for Vietnam from the United Kingdom, was carrying a total of 201 passengers and 16 crew members.

Apart from the 17th patient confirmed on Friday night, health authorities have confirmed 13 new cases of infection, with nine foreigners and four Vietnamese citizens.

Patient 30 and her husband were in the same business class lounge as Patient 17. On arriving in Hanoi, they travelled to Haiphong and visited Cat Ba Island by boat on March 5.

A day later, the couple boarded Vietnam Airlines Flight VN1547 to Hue City. Local authorities have locked down and disinfected the hotel and restaurant where the tourists had stayed and dined.

Sofitel Legend Metropole disinfected following detection of two COVID-19 guests

Medical workers moved to spray disinfectant throughout the renowned Sofitel Legend Metropole in Hanoi on the morning of March 9 after two British tourists who were on flight VN0054 tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The move to disinfect the hotel comes after the Trang Tien ward People's Committee issued a dispatch regarding the implementation of preventive measures to combat the spread of the COVID-19 to the Board of Directors of the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel, located at number 15 Ngo Quyen street in the capital, on March 8.

According to the dispatch, the COVID-19 Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control of Trang Tien ward announced that two British nationals who had been staying at the hotel between March 2 and March 5 had tested positive for the COVID-19.

The steering committee requested that Sofitel Legend Metropole urgently moves to quarantine hotel areas, all staff, and guests in line with the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases.

The hotel has also been requested not to receive any new guests as of 22:00 on March 8 until the conclusion of the quarantine process stated in the regulations set out by the health sector.

In addition to these measures, the establishment is also required to compile a list of all staff who had come into close contact with the infected cases whilst also collecting information regarding their movements between March 2 and the present.

Dinh Hong Phong, Standing Vice Chairman of the Hoan Kiem District People's Committee, said medical workers has sprayed disinfectant throughout the premises where the two positive cases had been detected.

The existing guests at the hotel have been put into isolation for 14 days while guests will only be able to check out of the hotel starting from March 20.

Five people show COVID-19 symptoms following close contact with 30th patient

Five people who began showing signs of cough and fever have been put into quarantine at the Hue Central Hospital following their close contact with the 30th novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patient, according to the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in the central Thua Thien-Hue province.

Moonlight Hotel is placed on lockdownThe steering committee stated that a 66-year-old British female tourist was the nation’s 30th COVID-19 case, adding that she had been put into isolation for treatment at the second branch of the Hue Central Hospital. At present she remains in stable health condition.

The infected tourist had traveled by plane to Thua Thien-Hue province on the afternoon of March 6 where she stayed at the Moonlight Hotel on Pham Ngu Lao street in Hue before being put into isolation in the hospital on March 7.

People who had come into close contact with the patient and showed symptoms of fever and cough have been put into quarantine at the second branch of the Hue Central Hospital, whilst a number of other individuals remain in normal health following their contact with the patient.

The COVID-19 Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Thua Thien Hue province has moved 14 tourists from the Moonlight Hotel to the Sun & Sea Hotel in Phu Vang district.

In addition to this, they have also transferred 23 Vietnamese people to the provincial Military School in Thuy Bang commune of Huong Thuy town for a period of isolation after coming into close contact with the 30th COVID-19 patient.

Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Anh Tuan, logistics manager of the Military Command of Thua Thien Hue province, said that medical teams have been set up in order to strictly monitor the health of each individual who had been still in quarantine at the Military School.

Celebrities asked to undergo health checks following Europe fashion weeks

HCM City authorities are requesting celebrities who met Vietnam's 17th COVID-19 patient and her sister at several top European events to undergo health examinations.

Nguyen Tan Binh, director of Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Health, on March 9, called on local authorities to tighten supervision on those having had contact with COVID-19 patients.

The health department emphasized the sister of the 17th COVID-19 patient in Vietnam, living in Europe and attending several fashion shows in Paris and Milan, had been thus infected by the novel coronavirus.

Besides, as some Saigon celebs had participated in both events, HCMC's Department of Culture and Sports alongside its Department of Information and Communications asked those who had contact with the duo to immediately visit local clinics or hospitals and undergo health examinations.

People's committees across Saigon would coordinate with local police to track citizens returning from Paris and Milan or those who have had contact with the 17th patient and her sister.

The fashion weeks attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world in French capital Paris and Milan, situated in the Lombardy region of Italy, and experiencing the largest number of COVID-19 infections outside Asia.

In the last few days, several Vietnamese celebrities returning from the fashion weeks have been quarantined at home.

Police arrest smugglers of medical facial masks to Cambodia

The Vinh Xuong border gate Customs Branch under An Giang Province Customs Department has just coordinated with the Song Tien International Border Guard Station under Border Guard of An Giang Province to seize an illegal shipment of medical facial masks from Vietnam to Cambodia.

In the evening of March 3, while patrolling in the path area to the border of Vinh Xuong, customs officers discovered and seized 320 boxes of medical face masks inside bags of goods gathered close to the border area with watchman.

The watchman quickly fled and left the packages as soon as detecting the inspectors.
On the same day, Ha Tien Border Gate Customs Department in Kien Giang Province requested inspection for Cambodian while the man was going to return to his country, carrying goods showing signs of violation.

Through inspection process, the Ha Tien Border Gate Customs Department detected the foreign tracker who intentionally hidden 192 boxes of medical face masks including 9,600 pieces without declaration.

Danang authorities track Covid-19 tourists

The authorities in Danang City have tracked and disclosed the information relating to the trip of two British tourists who tested positive for Covid-19 on March 9.

The tourists were on the London-Hanoi flight on March 2. They were on the same flight with the Vietnamese woman who was Vietnam’s 17th confirmed case. The tourists stayed at Noi Bai Airport then took the flight to Danang on the same day.

They stayed at a hotel and dined at a restaurant in Hai Chau District. They visited two golf courses on March 4 and 5 and another golf course on the following day. They had also visited many restaurants in the Hai Chau and Son Tra District.

The local authorities are monitoring the tourists who are now staying at Vanda Hotel. The hotel has also been disinfected on March 8 after the tourists tested positive on the same night. Their tests were done at the Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang.

On March 9, the Ba Na Hills Golf Club, where the tourists visited on March 4, was shut down for disinfection. Employees who have had contact with the tourists were asked to monitor their own health. As of now, no one has shown symptoms of having the virus yet. The managers said they had informed other customers about the news.

The Department of Health, Department of Tourism, Department of Foreign Affairs, the city police and local authorities have investigated to find and quarantine people that have close contact with the tourists. The hotel employees and customers have also been quarantined.

All locations where the tourists have visited will be disinfected. People who have had close contact with the tourists were asked to come to the authorities for test and quarantine.

Hanoi tracks down close contacts of COVID-19 patients

A quarantined person in Hanoi has her body temperature checked.

All of the COVID-19 infection cases in Hanoi have been tracked down, with no community transmission detected, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said at a meeting on March 9.

Given new challenges to the disease combat, the official called for greater efforts to complete the list of those people who have been in close contact with the infection cases.

All of the overseas working trips by the city’s officials must be cancelled unless they get approval from the Prime Minister, and unnecessary conferences should be scrapped or scaled down, Chung requested.

The municipal Department of Health and the Hanoi-based National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology will admit first-generation patients to ease overload at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

From March 10-15, the department in coordination with the city’s Military High Command will allow those who have completed their quarantine period to go home, according to the official.

As many as 1,893 people will leave concentrated quarantine centres in the city on March 10. Twenty-eight Koreans will also be allowed to return to their home country on this occasion.

Hoang Duc Hanh, Deputy Director of the department, reported that as of 15:00 on March 9, Hanoi had recorded four COVID-19 infection cases, with no fatality.

Regarding the information about the lockdown of the luxurious Metropole Hotel in Hoan Kiem district where British tourists had stayed, a representative of the district said that authorities sterilised the hotel and another at 12 Nguyen Quang Bich street.

On March 9 afternoon, the two hotels resumed their normal operation, and Metropole Hotel has not been on lockdown as presumed, the official confirmed.

Nghe An officials in quarantine after contact with suspected case

A representative of the Project Management Unit No. 6 reports the progress of the Cua Hoi bridge project to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s delegation - PHOTO: BAONGHEAN.VN

As many as 20 officials in the north-central province of Nghe An are self-isolating at home for 14 days after meeting with Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, who was on the same flight as Vietnam’s 17th Covid-19 patient, even though the minister has tested negative for coronavirus.

On March 9, Nguyen Van Dinh, director of the Nghe An Center for Disease Control, stated that the center had asked those who had shaken hands or had meals with the minister during his working trip in the province to place themselves in quarantine at home, the local media reported.

During the quarantine period, Nghe An officials will work from their mobile phones and other means of communication.

On March 5, Minister Dung attended a ceremony to announce a decision of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat to appoint Nguyen Duc Trung, deputy minister of Planning and Investment, to the post of deputy secretary of the provincial Party Committee.

The ministry’s delegation and Dung later visited the construction sites of major traffic infrastructure projects in the province, including a road connecting Vinh City and Cua Lo Town and the Cua Hoi bridge project spanning the Lam River.

On March 8, the Project Management Unit No. 6, under the Ministry of Transport, also asked its officials in Hanoi, who had been in close contact with Minister Dung when he visited the construction site of the Cua Hoi bridge project, to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days, while those working at the construction site will self-isolate at the field office.

The Nghe An People’s Council has decided to postpone its 13th meeting, which was scheduled to be held on March 9, due to the development of Covid-19.

Minister Dung was in the same C-class cabin as Vietnam’s 17th Covid-19 case on Vietnam Airlines Flight VN0054 from the United Kingdom to Vietnam on March 2.

In Nghe An, 608 people are being quarantined at home; 23 others, at centralized quarantine centers; and two, at medical centers.

27 people in contact with Vietnam's Patient 17 cleared of coronavirus

At least 27 people who came in contact with Vietnam’s coronavirus Patient 17 have tested negative for the pathogen. They are now under quarantine in the northern province of Hai Duong, the south-central province of Khanh Hoa and HCMC.

The coronavirus test results for the five people, who are being held in isolation in Khanh Hoa, came back negative, according to Bui Xuan Minh, director of the provincial Health Department.

Minh told the Vietnam News Agency on Sunday that they are all healthy, without any symptoms of cough or fever.

Among them, four British tourists are subject to a 14-day quarantine – two at a resort in the province’s capital city of Cam Ranh and two at a resort in Ninh Hoa Town.

The foreigners travelled on the same flight with N.H.N., Hanoi’s first coronavirus patient, from London to the Vietnamese capital city early this month. They have been in Khanh Hoa Province since March 2.

Meanwhile, the remaining case was a Vietnamese doctor from the Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical Diseases who conducted a medical examination on the 26-year-old N. While he was visiting his relatives in Khanh Hoa, he heard of the news about Patient 17 and then came to the Khanh Hoa Hospital for Tropical Diseases for isolation.

Since January 9, healthcare workers in the province have isolated a total of 466 people suspected of having contracted the deadly virus. Among them, only one female patient tested positive for the virus and was later cured of it and discharged from hospital on February 4.

In HCMC, 20 people who were passengers on the same flight as N. were also confirmed as negative for the virus, according to the municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

They comprise four Vietnamese residents in HCMC, one Vietnamese Australian and 15 foreign tourists. Upon arrival in Hanoi from London, they boarded another flight to the southern city on March 2.

City authorities noted that five other foreign tourists who were on the same flight to HCMC took a trip to Cambodia on March 4. Among them, one tourist was seated in the same business-class cabin as N.

Given the high risk of infection, the tourist is being quarantined on a Viking Cruise ship for coronavirus testing.

Two natives in the northern province of Hai Duong, who were on the same flight as the 17th coronavirus patient tested negative for the deadly pathogen as well, according to the provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The center also kept four workers at a local industrial park under quarantine on Sunday. Earlier, they offered interior repairs for the house at 125 Truc Bach Street in Hanoi's Ba Dinh District, where Patient 17 lives.

Officials indicated that they are in stable condition, and their test samples are being processed.

Nine foreign nationals on the same flight as N. were found to have contracted the virus on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Vietnam to 30, with 16 of them cured and discharged from hospital.

Crew of flight with COVID-19 cases negative for coronavirus

A worker fumigates a plane of Vietnam Airlines

The crew members of Flight VN0054, which several cases of COVID-19 infection boarded, have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the acute respiratory disease (COVID-19).

Vietnam Airlines announced that aside from the four pilots and 12 attendants on this flight, the 23 technicians who got on the plane to examine it also haven’t shown any symptom of the disease.

All the staff have been sent to a concentrated quarantine centre, according to the national flag carrier.

It added that since the outbreak of the disease, its employees have been equipped with medical face masks, gloves and knowledge about COVID-19 prevention and control.

The 17th infection case of Vietnam, also the first in Hanoi, boarded Flight VN0054 from London to Hanoi, which landed at Noi Bai International Airport at 4:30am of March 2. The country continually recorded more cases who were also on this flight on the following days.

As of late March 9, Vietnam had confirmed 31 COVID-19 cases, 16 of them have fully recovered.

Also on March 9, authorities of Bac Ninh, Lao Cai, Ninh Binh and Hai Duong said many people in these northern provinces were negative for SARS-CoV-2.

They included four workers of a company based in Dai An Industrial Park of Hai Duong. The workers came to the house of the 17th patient on Truc Bach street in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh district for interior repair, the disease control centre of Hai Duong said.

The three female natives boarding Flight VN0054 were also tested negative for the virus, and they are currently quarantined.

On March 9, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases of Hai Duong also brought a man returning from the Republic of Korea to quarantine as he showed cough and shortness of breath.

By the end of March 8, the province had quarantined 1,100 people returning from coronavirus-hit areas, including 254 at medical establishments and 846 at home.

In Ninh Binh, the four persons who were on Flight VN0054 also tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, the province’s disease control centre said.

As of March 9 afternoon, 155 people in Ninh Binh had had their samples taken for testing, including one positive case which has been sent to the provincial General Hospital for treatment and 148 others negative.

The province currently has 1,515 people who returned from coronavirus-hit areas but haven’t finished the 14-day quarantine period, along with several others having contact with suspected cases. All have been put under monitoring.

In Bac Ninh province, 32 suspected cases have been reported, 25 of them found to be negative for the virus while the rest are waiting for test results.

Dak Lak instructs 40 arrivals from Da Nang to self-isolate

Two people who had come into close contact with a British national infected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the central coastal city of Da Nang have been moved into isolation whilst a further 40 people who were traveling with the pair on a passenger bus have been instructed to self-isolate at home.

The Health Department of Dak Lak province stated that two people who had come into close contact with a British COVID-19 national boarded a passenger bus that was travelling from Da Nang to Dak Lak on the afternoon of March 9.

At present, both individuals have been put into quarantine by Da Nang authorities in line with regulations set by the health sector.

The move comes after the Dak Lak health sector was notified about a passenger bus that was travelling to the province from Da Nang on March 8 which was carrying two individuals who had come into close contact with the British COVID-19 patient in Da Nang.

The Dak Lak provincial health sector worked in collaboration with the Da Nang Center for Disease Control to promptly detect the cases and move to put them in isolation according to regulations. There were over 40 other passengers onboard the passenger bus with the pair as it travelled to Dak Lak province.

The health sector of Da Nang city has moved to disinfect all vehicles whilst instructing passengers to self-isolate at home and follow regulations set by the Ministry of Health.

As of March 9, Dak Lak province had yet to record any cases of the COVID-19 infection./.VNA/SGT/VNE/VNN/VOV/SGGP

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