HCMC – Phu Quoc Island off Kien Giang Province has proposed suspending domestic flights, especially those from Covid-19-hit provinces and cities, to prevent the spread of the disease.
Tong Phuoc Truong, secretary of the Phu Quoc City Party Committee, said the city made the proposal as large cities such as HCMC and Hanoi had yet to put Covid-19 under control and some localities in the Mekong Delta had reported their first locally-infected cases, according to the local media.
At present, there is only one to two flights from Hanoi and HCMC to Phu Quoc, so the suspension will not cause great impact. Meanwhile, if Covid-19 cases are detected in Phu Quoc, many areas in the city must be locked down, Truong added.
Le Viet Bac, director of the Kien Giang Department of Transport, said the province would consider the proposal but the suspension decision was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport.
Regarding the fact that many Vietnamese people in Cambodia have rushed to return to Vietnam through the Ha Tien International Border Gate, Le Quoc Anh, secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of Ha Tien City in Kien Giang Province, said 50-70, even 179 Vietnamese people returning from Cambodia were sent to centralized quarantine centers in the city.
The city is quarantining nearly 400 people, while the capacity of centralized quarantine centers in the city is some 720 people and treatment facilities can receive only 100 patients.
Anh said the city had called on Vietnamese people to enter Vietnam through other border gates, besides Ha Tien.
Cao Thanh Nam, director of the Kien Giang Center for Disease Control, said a field hospital with 400 beds in Ha Tien City was set to be put into operation and its capacity could be raised to 500 beds if needed. The hospital can treat 50 critical patients.
The center has prepared centralized facilities in the Giang Thanh, Kien Luong and Hon Dat districts.
