On the morning of February 2, the health ministry announced one more confirmed case of nCoV, an American national who flew from the United States to Vietnam via Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak in China.
He was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases on January 31 and tested positive for the new virus.
Four other people suspected of contracting the new coronavirus are also being quarantined at local hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, including three French nationals and one Vietnamese.
The three French nationals belong to a family that was travelling across Vietnam after visiting Wuhan. The Vietnamese patient also stopped in Wuhan before returning to Vietnam.
In the northern province of Quang Ninh, which borders China, local authorities have decided to establish a temporary 500-bed hospital in the city of Mong Cai to prepare for the epidemic.
Schools in Hanoi have been disinfected and sanitised while many opening ceremonies of spring festivals have been cancelled as a precautionary measure against the virus.
In a related development, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has suspended the licensing of all flights between Vietnam and China starting from February 1 until further notice.
However, local airlines will be permitted to operate some special flights to bring a large number of Vietnamese people in Mainland China, Hong Kong (China) and Macau (China) back home.
Flights to and from Taiwan (China) are still permitted to operate as usual.
