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Government minister on Vietnam Air plane under home quarantine
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Authorities isolate a neighborhood as residents hoard food
An outbreak of four coronavirus cases tied to a Vietnam Airlines flight from London to Hanoi triggered hoarding in the Southeast Asian country’s capital, the lockdown of a central city neighborhood and the home quarantine of an investment minister aboard the aircraft.
A growing sense that the virus may be bypassing Vietnam, which hadn’t reported an official case in more than three weeks, was shattered after a 26-year-old Hanoi woman, who landed at Noi Bai International Airport March 2 after visiting London, Milan and Paris, tested positive for the virus, the Ministry of Health announced Friday night. The government immediately quarantined five acquaintances of the woman.
Over the weekend, the woman’s uncle and family driver also tested positive and a 61-year-old man on flight VN 0054 – who, like the 26-year-old woman, sat in business class — was confirmed to have the virus, the ministry said. The government immediately quarantined 50 people who had close contact with the 61-year-old man at home and in hospitals.
Planning and Investment Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, who sat in seat 1A — the first patient sat in seat 5K – had self-quarantined at home for 14 days after testing negative for the virus. The minister’s headquarters were also disinfected, the government announced on its Facebook page.
Of the more than 200 passengers on the flight, 28 were in business class, according to the government. The flight’s crew and ground staff are also in isolation, according to the health ministry’s news website. Thirty-two of the passengers on board the aircraft journeyed on to nine different cities in the country, including Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Phu Quoc.
Vietnam is notifying officials in Europe and elsewhere about the airline virus case and foreign passengers on board, the government said in a statement, citing Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang.
The sudden spread of the virus unnerved Vietnamese, who rushed to supermarkets to buy rice, meat and other food across Hanoi over the weekend as police and members of the military quarantined the woman’s neighborhood, disinfecting streets in the wealthy enclave a few kilometers from the National Assembly. The rush to stores triggered a surge in prices of pork — the nation’s main source of protein — among traders, from 300,000 dong ($12.93) per kilogram to 400,000 dong ($17.24) per kilogram, Saigon Giai Phong news website reported.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered government agencies to ensure food suppliers are kept markets well-stocked, according to a statement on the government’s website posted late Saturday. Officials will inspect markets to investigate possible price gouging. Phuc on Sunday directed top government officials to suspend business trips abroad and focus on the outbreak and boosting the economy, according to a separate government website statement.
Hanoi Party Chief Vuong Dinh Hue, speaking at a conference on Saturday, proposed canceling large gatherings, such as festivals, and said he was worried about the virus spreading among shoppers waiting in long supermarket lines, the Vietnam Insider reported.
The four patients, in addition to another unrelated case reported Saturday, gives Vietnam a virus case tally of 21, 16 of whom have recovered, according to the health ministry.
Reporting by John Boudreau and Xuan Quynh Nguyen @ Bloomberg