The people should not worry or panic but seriously take precautions issued by the Ministry of Health and authorities to join hands fighting the epidemic of the acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19), Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long stressed at a working session on March 7.

Part of Hanoi's Truc Bach street is besieged starting from March 6 (Photo: VNA)

The urgent meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who is also head of the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control, and health experts was held after Hanoi recorded the first infection case in the capital city late on March 6.

Long further said the people should only refer to the information on the development of the epidemic from official sources, especially the web of his ministry, adding they should keep calm, united and self-confident to win over the epidemic.

It was heard at the session that the suspected cases have by now been quarantined and the residential area of the patient, the 17th case of this kind in Vietnam, tightly contained and supervised.

Experts and officials held that the Hanoi case comes within a scenario worked out earlier. It is similar to those in Son Loi commune, Vinh Phuc province’s Binh Xuyen district, which Vietnam has experience in coping with, they highlighted, concluding that by now, things are still under control.