Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung has agreed to the proposal to quarantine some 800 Hanoians who are set to return from the Covid-19-hit city of Danang soon.

800 Hanoian returnees from Danang will undergo concentrated quarantine. Photo: Kinh te & Do thi

The proposal was put forth by Director of the Department of Health Nguyen Khac Hien at the city’s Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control meeting on August 5.

Mayor Chung assigned the health sector and the Capital High Command to prepare adequate facilities for mass quarantine to accommodate the 800 people will who be evacuated from Danang after being stranded there from July 28 because passenger movements to and from the beach city have been suspended to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The city’s leaders also ask the health sector to seriously enforce the returnees to comply with the regulation on medical declaration.

Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Ngo Van Quy suggested that people coming from Danang and Quang Nam, which are now the two largest Covid-19 hot spots in Vietnam, must self-isolate at home, under local authorities’ supervision. Without supervision, virus carriers would be wandering around with high risk of transmission.

Statistics from the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC) show more than 95,000 people have returned to Hanoi from Danang since early July when the virus to believed to have reappeared in the resort city. More than 72,000 of them have taken rapid Covid-19 test, of them 12 people initially had positive results and were confirmed later negative for the virus.

On August 3, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed to take 400 tourists out of Danang. The tourists are mainly from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City who remain stranded in the city due to travel restrictions.

Two airplanes will be used to airlift the tourists, who want to return to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. However, the number of tourists wanting to leave Danang is thought to be greater than the one published on the media.