A medical worker disinfects the cabin of a Vietnam Airlines plane,
February 4, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh. 

Ho Chi Minh City health authorities have asked the Tan Son Nhat airport to sterilize planes on all domestic and international routes. 

The municipal Health Department wants the airport, the biggest in the country, to disinfect the entire aircraft after international flights.

Aircraft being used for domestic routes have to be disinfected every day to ensure each plane is clean before it is used.

The HCMC Center for Disease Control said the aircraft disinfection is needed to reinforce preventive measures against Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The epidemic has been developing in a complicated way across the world but many countries have kept their borders for travel as usual, the center said.

In the latest case, a Japanese passenger tested positive for the virus in Japan after transiting in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday on his way from Cambodia's Siem Reap.

57 passengers on that flight, operated by national carrier Vietnam Airlines, the crew and everyone at HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat Airport who’d come into direct contact with the Japanese passenger have been quarantined.

As of Thursday, the city had placed 325 persons under medical scrutiny at its field hospitals in the outlying districts of Cu Chi, Nha Be and District 7. The people who are subject to the scrutiny are those who returned from Covid-19 stricken areas or had direct contact with returnees from stricken areas.

The city has been following the national quarantine protocol, officials said. Everyone coming from South Korea, Iran, Italy, and mainland China are being quarantined for 14 days on arrival.

As of Friday morning, Vietnam had 68 people in quarantine and more than 14,000 people being monitored.

Under the protocol set by the Health Ministry, those returning from stricken areas or have had direct contact with returnees from stricken areas and show any Covid-19 symptom are to be quarantined in specific facilities till they are declared virus-free by doctors. Those who are returning from stricken areas or have had direct contact with returnees from stricken areas, but do not show any symptoms, will be monitored by healthcare staff.

There have been no new Covid-19 virus infections detected in Vietnam since February 13. All 16 infections detected so far have been discharged from hospitals.

The global death toll continued to rise to 3,385, mostly in mainland China, followed by Italy (148), Iran (108) and South Korea (40).