The government of Vietnam has required all Vietnamese people who return to the country from South Korea to be quarantined for 14 days, starting from February 26.

More and more Vietnamese people return to the country over the last few days. Photo: Zing

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nearly 27,000 Vietnamese people are living in South Korea’s coronavirus-hit North Gyeongsang province, including Daegu city.

The number is “huge” compared to the figure of Vietnamese people stuck in the Chinese city of Wuhan in early February.

The Ministry of Transport has asked airlines to inform Vietnamese passengers to make honest health declarations and accept the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Meanwhile, airlines have been required to reduce the number of flights to and from South Korea to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Some days ago, Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs told Vietnamese people in North Gyeongsang to refrain from travel and not to leave South Korea unnecessarily.

In a related move, as of February 27, Hanoi has quarantined around 900 people coming back from South Korea, Director of Duc Giang General Hospital Nguyen Van Thuong said at a meeting with the Hanoi Party’s Chief Vuong Dinh Hue, VietNamNet reported.

The quarantine is set up within a military school under the management of the Capital High Command.

But the number of people coming from South Korea would be on the rise with an estimated 800 on February 28 alone, Thanh Nien quoted Nguyen Nhat Cam, head of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control, as saying.

He warned that passengers will flock to Hanoi in the coming days from abroad and the number of people required quarantine is unforeseeable.

Hanoi’s leaders have built plans for more quarantine facilities.

Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung of the Hanoi People’s Committee was quoted by Thanh Nien as saying earlier this week that information of the epidemic must be transparent to avoid paying prices in the future.