Vietnam confirms 7th case of deadly Coronavirus

The newest confirmed patient, 73 years old, came to Vietnam on January 14 from U.S. on flight No.660 of China Southern Airlines.

The patient had a transit at the airport of Wuhan city, China on January 15 for two hours. From January 16, the patient arrived at Tan Son Nhat International airport and moved to a hotel on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street and stayed there until admission.

On January 27, the patient showed coughing on January 27. Four days later, hotel staff took him to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

Currently, patient is put under quarantine and treatment at the hospital.

This newest patient is among 4 cases that Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health asked to isolate. The other three are a French and family.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc officially announced the acute respiratory infection caused by nCoV in the country.

The first infection case was confirmed in Vietnam on January 23 and the total virus-infected patients have increased to 7, including two Chinese tourists.

Over the past days, the Government chief inked two directives clarifying responsibilities of ministries, agencies and localities in prevention and control of the virus spread to Vietnam.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has announced to suspend all flights between Vietnam and China from February 1 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The decision took effect from 1:00 pm on Saturday and applies to all flights between Vietnam and China, including those already licensed for takeoff.

The grounding is in line with a government directive on Friday on enhancing measures to prevent a pneumonia outbreak caused by the virus, the authority said.

Vietnam has decided to stop issuing visas for Chinese tourists.

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