Vietnam reintroduced social distancing measures in the central city of Danang on Sunday after the second coronavirus case was detected there, breaking more than three months of non-local infections in the country.

Danang is now put under high alert again after two locally-transmitted cases detected in the city. Photo: Tienphong

From 1:00 pm Sunday, Danang has imposed precautionary measures in the entire city, namely compulsory face mask wearing in public, no crowd gatherings of 30 people in public places, outside offices, schools, and hospitals; keeping social distancing of at least one meter.

Festivals, religious rituals, sports tournaments, and crowded events would be halted from Sunday, local media reported, citing the city authorities.

Non-essential services like amusement parks, beauty spas, karaoke lounges, and bars would not be allowed for now.

All schools, vocational centers, and classes of soft skills are required to close.

Tourism-related service providers need to stop receiving guests for 14 days from July 26.

Drugstores are required to call health agencies’ hotlines to report buyers of flu and cough drugs and antipyretic and to help them take quick tests for SAR-CoV-2.

The city’s social distancing measures would come into force until further notice.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has also asked the city to consider fighting against Covid-19 an important political mission and the city needs to take drastic measures including quarantine, lockdown, and massive testing.

He asked related ministries to support Danang to ensure enough forces and resources to cope with the pandemic.

Vietnam was put on high alert again after the first locally-transmitted coronavirus case was confirmed on Saturday since mid-April and another case early on Sunday, both in Danang.

So far, sources of the transmission remain unknown and no details about if the cases were linked to each other.

Local police have detected dozens of illegal Chinese migrants in Danang in recent days.