PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the urgent meeting this morning.

The PM convened an urgent meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control work on January 28 morning at the National Convention Hall where the 13th National Party Congress is taking place.

PM Phuc spoke highly of the drastic and prompt actions taken by the Health Ministry, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, and Hai Duong and Quang Ninh to trace people having possible contact with patients and to zone off newly-detected outbreaks.

He asked ministries, sectors, and localities to carry out stricter measures, continue screening, and identify the reason and the root for the outbreaks.

Publicizing information is essential but should not make people overly concerned, PM Phuc stressed, highlighting the need to promote prevention and control measures.

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam spoke at the meeting

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the steering committee, asked for the activation of the pandemic prevention and control mechanism and system in a hypothetical situation of there being tens of thousands of infections.

He requested that all localities review their prevention measures, especially on the threshold of the Lunar New Year holiday, with a focus on airports, public transport, medical facilities, schools, offices, and markets.

Vietnam has reported 84 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, including 73 in Hai Duong and 11 in Quang Ninh. Of the total, two were confirmed late on January 27 and the remainder on the morning of January 28.

Of the two cases on January 27, a female patient in Hai Duong is related to a woman patient who tested positive for a new variant of the coronavirus upon arrival in Osaka, Japan.

The other is a 31-year-old man from Hong Ha ward in Quang Ninh’s Ha Long city, who works at the province’s Van Don International Airport.

Quang Ninh suspends public transport, closes schools after community cases detected

Quang Ninh has decided to suspend transport services and closed schools.

All land and waterway transport services coming in and out of the province will be temporarily suspended, according to an urgent telegram issued by the provincial Department of Transport.

The decision took effect as from 06.00am on January 28 until further notice, said the telegram.

The local administration also asked transport companies to soon complete trips, disinfect buses and boats, and keep a close watch on the health of drivers and conductors.

For those who are currently on board buses or boats are required to make health declarations, don face masks and observe safe distance regulations.

Van Don Airport closes following new virus clusters

Van Don Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh has just closed after dozens of virus infection cases were reported.

The Northern Airport Authority decided to temporarily close the airport for 24 hours from midday on January 28.

On January 27, a 31-year-old security officer at the airport was confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2.

On the morning of January 28, 10 more people including his mother and nine colleagues were confirmed to have the virus.

Speaking with Dantri, director of the Northern Airport Authority, Tran Hoai Phuong, said that the temporary suspension was to prevent the virus spreading and to carry out sterilisation work at the airport.

"All flights scheduled to land or take off at Van Don Airport have been instructed to move to surrounding airports," he said."

Director of Van Don International Airport, Pham Ngoc Sau, said that they had always conducted tight Covid-19 prevention measures so were very shocked by the virus case.

"It has not yet been identified where the staff got the virus from," he said. "We’re co-operating with the concerned agencies to trace the viral sources following instructions from the Ministry of Health. All of our staff have also taken viral tests."

Hai Duong closes schools following Covid-19 outbreak

Hai Duong has also decided to close all of its schools from tomorrow, January 29, due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Luong Van Viet, director of the Hai Duong Department of Education and Training said that all of 40,000 students in Chi Linh City had to stay at home from today, January 28, after 72 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed in the locality.   

Viet added that from Friday, all schools of different levels in the province with around 500,000 students would be temporarily shut for Covid-19 prevention efforts.

The provincial people’s committee has requested strong Covid-19 prevention and control measures. Schools have been asked to prepare to teach students online in necessary cases.

Sterilisation has been conducted at local schools.

82 Covid-19 cases reported in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh

Vietnam recorded 82 new COVID-19 cases in the northern provinces of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh on January 28 morning after two locally-infected cases were confirmed late January 27.