The People's Committee of Hai Phong has asked the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to suspend flights from Bangkok (Thailand) to the city's Cat Bi International Airport in service of the local prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

Cat Bi international airport (Source: saigongiaiphong)

At present, everyday the airport receives one direct flight from Bangkok, which carries a lot of passengers from Europe.

The northern port city has actively classified passengers to transfer suspected cases to concentrated quarantine areas. However, the disease is developing complicatedly in many countries and territories, including Europe nations and Thailand. Therefore, the city made the aforesaid proposal to help prevent the virus from spreading.

On March 15, Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung inspected the medical checkpoint in Cat Hai district and attended a meeting on COVID-19 prevention in Minh Hong village, Nghia Lo commune of the district.

More than 220 local households were provided with prevention measures such as reguarly washing hands with soap and wearing face masks in crowded places. Those having symptoms such as coughing and fever should go to the nearest medical facility for check-up and limit going to crowded places.

Locals were also advised to inform authorities about cases returning from epidemic-hit areas.

By 12:00 on March 15, all 138 suspected cases in Hai Phong tested negative for the coronavirus. This means the city has so far reported no cases of COVID-19.