Ambulances are seen in a corner of Truc Bach Street, Hanoi, March 6, as authority cordon off the street section, where the Covid-19 patient lived before being hospitalized

The 26-year-old patient earlier visited her sister in the UK, then travelled to Italy and France and returned to Hanoi on March 1 on flight VN0054. The patient’s residential area in Truc Bach Street, Hanoi, were sterilized. Those who had close contact with her are quarantined in the National Institute of Tropical Diseases on the outskirt of Hanoi. Others have had close contact with these people are listed and required to be in health surveillance in their residential areas.

The Ministry of Health asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with the UK and France to inform them the patient’s travel route.

This is the 17th COVID-19 case in Vietnam. The previous 16 patients have been cured and discharged from hospital. 

The national steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control has sent an urgent official dispatch to the Ministries of Public Security and Transport, and the People’s Committee of Hanoi, asking them to investigate and deal with any possible outbreaks related to a newly confirmed patient in the city.

The Ministry of Public Security was requested to instruct relevant units to verify residence addresses of passengers onboard flight VN0054 and inform local authorities so as to timely quarantine these people and monitor their health in line with regulations.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport was asked to direct competent units to provide the list of passengers on the same flight with the patient to supervise their health and conduct quarantine. The Ministry of Transport was also urged to sterilize relevant aircraft and areas where the patient had gone through or used services at Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport to prevent the spread of the virus.

The steering committee requested the Hanoi People’s Committee to coordinate with units of the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and make a list of people having close contact with the confirmed patient. Those having close contact with the patient must be quarantined at medical establishments while their samples and samples of the patient’s family members must be sent to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for testing, the steering committee said. The municipal People’s Committee must thoroughly sterilize the houses of the patient and neighboring families as well as vehicles used to transport the patient and other related offices and areas if any.