(CNN) – Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from the popular resort town of Da Nang after three residents tested positive for coronavirus, the government said.
Vietnamese authorities are quick to cut off a potential new outbreak after the Southeast Asian nation recorded its first case of local Covid-19 transmission in 100 days on Saturday.
The patient, a 57-year-old man, had no history of international travel and had been living in Da Nang for the past month, according to the Vietnam Ministry of Health. Two other cases were reported the following day.
After the case was announced, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc demanded that contact tracing be stepped up and large-scale tests be conducted across the city, according to a government press release.
On Monday, the government made the drastic decision to begin evacuating 80,000 people from Da Nang, a process that it said would take four days. National airlines operate around 100 daily flights to 11 cities across the country, according to the Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority.
Only two Vietnamese provinces, Bac Giang and Bac Ninh, will require those returning from Da Nang to be quarantined. Other local authorities will require them to complete health declaration forms.
The country has not reported any deaths from Covid-19 and has confirmed only 420 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
On Saturday, social distancing rules were re-implemented in Da Nang, according to the government press release. Everyone in the city should keep a distance of at least one meter from each other, wear face masks in public places, and wash their hands regularly.
As of Tuesday, people living in residential areas around three hospitals in Da Nang will be required to remain at home, according to a directive issued by the Prime Minister.
Festivals, religious gatherings and major events in Da Nang will be banned, and nonessential services such as beauty salons, pubs, discos and bars will also be closed from Tuesday.
Other businesses, tourist sites, restaurants and sports centers will remain open as long as preventive measures exist. This includes providing protective gear to employees and recording temperatures for all customers, according to the government.
Schools in Da Nang will remain open, but administrators have been instructed to reduce the number of students in each class.
A regional success
Public health experts say Vietnam’s success lies in a combination of factors, from the government’s swift and quick response to prevent its spread, to strict contact monitoring and quarantine and effective public communication.
Vietnam hastened to take proactive blocking measures. On February 12, he locked up an entire rural community of 10,000 people north of Hanoi for 20 days for seven cases of coronavirus, the first known large-scale blockade outside of China.
The decisive initial actions effectively slowed community transmission and kept Vietnam’s confirmed cases to just 16 by February 13. For three weeks, there were no new infections, until the second wave hit in March, brought in by Vietnamese people returning from abroad.
Authorities rigorously tracked the contacts of confirmed coronavirus patients and placed them in a mandatory two-week quarantine.
After a three-week national blockade, Vietnam lifted its social distancing rules in late April. Businesses and schools have reopened, and life had begun to return to normal.
CNN’s Nectar Gan, Sandi Sidhu, Akanksha Sharma and Isaac Yee contributed reports.
.
