An isolation site at Đà Nẵng General Hospital. Two English tourists testing positive for COVID-19 have been kept for medical treatment and monitoring at the hospital on March 8. — VNS Photo Anh Đào

CENTRAL REGION — The central province of Quảng Ngãi has temporarily halted tourists travelling from the mainland to the Lý Sơn Islands from March 9. The decision was made to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Vice chairman of the province, Đặng Ngọc Dũng, said the province also called on foreigners and local tourists, who were travelling on the islands, to return to the mainland soon.

The islands, 30km off the coast of Quảng Ngãi city, are a popular tourist destination, hosting an average of 300,000 tourists per year.

Sterilisation and body temperature checks have been instituted at the island’s main port.

The province had isolated 369 people for monitoring at hospitals and medical centres between January and March.

In Đà Nẵng, all staff of a hotel in the city’s downtown Hải Châu district have been isolated as they had close contact with two English tourists who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 8.

These tourists were also the first COVID-19 patients in Đà Nẵng.

The two English patients were taken into isolation at Đà Nẵng General Hospital, while local authorities have been tracking the journey of the two English patients as well as the people that had either direct or indirect contact with them. Medical samples have been collected for testing.

They are healthy at the moment. Neither suffered a cough, fever or sore throat, doctors from the city’s Centre for Disease said.

In Thừa Thiên-Huế province, chemical spraying and sterilisation activities were implemented at three streets – Phạm Ngũ Lão, Võ Thị Sáu and Chu Văn An – which are popular sites for tourists – from midnight on March 8.

Hotels and other areas – where an English woman tested positive for COVID-19 – were also sterilised and cleaned.

Tourists take boats to travel from Quảng Ngãi to Lý Sơn Island from Sa Kỳ Port. The province has stopped providing procedure and allowance for Vietnamese and foreign tourists traveling to the Island from March 9. — VNS Photo Công Thành

According to the provincial authority, two English tourists, one man and one woman, who were on the same flight as the 17th COVID-19 patient in Hà Nội, took a flight (VN1547) from Hà Nội to Huế on March 6. They stayed at a hotel on Phạm Ngũ Lão street.

All 15 people that had close contact with the two English tourists have been isolated at the hotel for health checks and monitoring.

They are all healthy, the provincial health department said.

The woman tested positive for COVID-19, while the man had been isolated at the Huế Central Hospital from March 8. — VNS