A medical staff disinfects an area at Van Don Airport in
Quang Ninh Province, April 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Binh Minh.
 

All public transportation including flights cannot enter or leave northern Quang Ninh Province from Thursday following the resurgence of Covid-19 transmissions. 

The move came after the health ministry confirmed 84 community transmissions after 55 clean days, including 11 employees at Van Don International Airport. The others are workers of a company in nearby Hai Duong Province.

Pham Ngoc Sau, director of Van Don Airport, which has been locked down, said flights scheduled to land here would be diverted to neighboring airports while all employees had their samples taken for coronavirus testing.

The airport has received hundreds of repatriation flights from abroad since the government imposed travel restrictions in March last year.

The government has yet to impose a social distancing order in Quang Ninh, home to around 1.4 million people and famous for the UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay, which has witnessed a tourism boom in recent years.

But over 300,000 students from kindergartens to universities were allowed to stay home from Thursday while festivals and crowded events are limited.

Chairing an urgent government meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on Hai Duong and Quang Ninh to swiftly track down everyone who came into contact with the clusters and temporarily close their borders to prevent the virus from spreading.

In two weeks, Vietnamese will celebrate their biggest festival of the year, Lunar New Year, an occasion for family reunions that will see millions travel home.

Vietnam has recorded 1,635 cases, 167 of them active, with 35 deaths.