HCMC – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered the suspension of flights arriving from countries with the new Covid-19 variant, starting with the United Kingdom and South Africa.
According to the prime minister’s directive on the enhancement of measures to fight the pandemic, flights from countries and territories with complicated Covid-19 developments will face the same fate.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is tasked with coordinating with the Ministries of Health and Transport to make a list of countries and territories that should be covered by the suspension.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also asked to review Vietnamese nationals overseas who want to return to Vietnam and facilitate the travel of the elderly, the disadvantaged and those traveling abroad for disease treatment and those whose visas and labor contracts have expired.
In addition, the Ministry of National Defense was asked to cooperate with the Ministry of Public Security and the governments of the relevant localities to enhance the control at border gates and prevent illegal entry into the country. They should continue closely monitoring people entering Vietnam, ensuring they are quarantined for 14 days and preventing disease transmission at quarantine centers and in the community.
In case of new infected cases, the competent agencies must quickly trace those in close contact with the patients and impose pandemic prevention and control measures.
The Government leader also asked residents to report cases illegally entering the country, seriously comply with quarantine regulations, wear face masks in public places and limit gatherings.
According to PM Phuc’s directive, Covid-19 is spreading at a rapid speed in many countries and territories, with some 600,000 new cases and 6,000 fatalities per day. The new variant, in particular, which may be 70% more transmissible than the old one, has been found in 38 countries so far.
The risk of the disease penetrating and spreading in Vietnam is very high, especially from people entering from infected countries.
