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National Committee demands clear-cut stand to staunch COVID-19 spread to Viet Nam

VGP – Members of the Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control underlined the necessity to have a clear-cut stand to staunch spread of the noval coronavirus to Viet Nam, during a meeting on Monday morning.

March 16, 2020 11:55 AM GMT+7

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Photo: VGP

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Such stand is of signficant importance as the virus has spread quickly to 156 countries and territories with 169,368 infection cases, including 6,501 fatalities. Meanwhile, all new infection cases (41) in Viet Nam have been reported since March 6, including 17 foreign nationals.

The body, led by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, urged competent authorities to seriously implement measures on mandatory quarantine for travellers upon their entry to Viet Nam. 

The committee also proposed immediate body temperature checks and classification of passengers after they get off planes. 

For Vietnamese returning from the pandemic-hit areas, competent authorities must quickly take them to centralized quarantine areas as planned, said the committee.

Experts emphasized the importance of taking synchronous measures to detect suspected cases as soon as possible through accelerating IT application, effective deployment of mandatory medical declaration and voluntary medical declaration for all Vietnamese among others. 

As of early March 16, the Ministry of Health confirmed 57 positive cases, of whom 16 had recovered and exited hospitals.

Of the current 41 patients, four are struggling with severe illness due to their chronic health conditions.

Meanwhile, the number of people tested negative for the virus was 5,182 cases, according to the ministry. 

Localities recorded positive cases including Vinh Phuc (11); HCMC (8); Khanh Hoa (1); Thanh Hoa (1); Ha Noi (11); Ninh Binh (1); Quang Ninh (5); Lao Cai (2); Da Nang (2), Hue (2), Quang Nam (3), Binh Thuan (9). 

 By Kim Anh