HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from the Danang tourism hub after three residents tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend, the government said on Monday.
The Southeast Asian country is on high alert after the government confirmed its first infections in the community on Saturday since April and three other cases on Sunday, all in or around Danang.
The evacuation will take at least four days with domestic airlines operating approximately 100 daily flights from Danang to 11 Vietnamese cities, the government said in a statement.
Vietnam imposed strict quarantine measures and carried out an aggressive and widespread testing program during the pandemic, keeping total reported infections at only 420, with no deaths.
Vietnam is still closed to foreign tourism, but there has been an increase in domestic travelers looking to take advantage of discounted flights and vacation packages to local hotels and resorts.
Those returning from Danang to other parts of the country will have to quarantine their homes for 14 days, the health ministry said.
Following the discovery of the new cases, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered the police to intensify the crackdown on illegal immigration to the country.
State media said Sunday that police in Danang had arrested a 42-year-old Chinese man who he said was the head of a criminal group that helps people enter Vietnam illegally from China.
Authorities have not officially linked the new cases in Danang to illegal immigration.
The government said in a separate statement on Monday that authorities in the Ha Giang province, which borders China, had trapped more than 1,500 people crossing illegally into the province since May.
Most of those captured were Vietnamese citizens, according to the statement, and were quarantined.
Reports from Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Written by James Pearson; Editing by Ed Davies and Martin Petty
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