Some 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, are being evacuated from the popular Vietnamese beach town of Da Nang after more than a dozen people were confirmed to have COVID-19, the government said Monday.
Vietnam, widely seen as a success in the treatment of the coronavirus, re-imposed a social distancing order in Da Nang after the confirmation of the cases, the first to be transmitted locally in the country in more than three months.
A 57-year-old man was confirmed Saturday infected with COVID-19, the country’s first local case since April. Three more cases were confirmed over the weekend, followed by 11 more on Monday, the health ministry said.
On Sunday, the government re-imposed the order of social distancing in the city.
The new outbreak sparked fear among tourists in the city, and many shortened their travels.
The Civil Aviation Administration said that the country’s four airlines had added additional flights and larger planes to transport people, mostly domestic tourists, out of town.
“It will probably take four days to evacuate the 80,000 passengers,” CAA Director Dinh Viet Thang said in a statement. Those who left Da Nang were told to self-quarantine and report their health status to local health agencies, the Ministry of Health said.
He said the 11 cases confirmed Monday were all patients and health workers at Da Nang Hospital, where the initial case is being treated.
The hospital has been isolated, and authorities are tracking contacts of infected people for testing and mandatory quarantines.
The ministry also said the virus was a new strain that had not previously been found in Vietnam. The mutated strain has a faster infection rate, but its damage compared to the previous strain is not yet known, the ministry said.
