Aircraft at Đà Nẵng International Airport in May 2019. Flights will be organised to carry stranded tourists from Đà Nẵng back to Hà Nội and HCM City. Photo courtesy Vietjet

ĐÀ NẴNG — Two flights will be organised to carry about 400 tourists back to HCM City and Hà Nội later this week, Đà Nẵng's tourism promotion centre confirmed yesterday.

The centre said tourists can register for the emergency flights before 3.30pm August 5.

All flights to and from Đà Nẵng were stopped from July 28 after the city applied social distancing from July 26.

The centre said at least 1.4 million tourists, mostly from Hà Nội, had visited Đà Nẵng after the first social distancing measures were eased in the city from the middle of May.

Prevention measures

According to the city’s Centre for Disease Control, 2,600 medical samples were taken in An Hải Đông Ward in Sơn Trà District and Lệ Sơn Nam Commune in Hòa Vang District for SARS-CoV-2 testing on Monday.

Seventy tonnes of rice, which was donated by local people and businesses from HCM City and the Mekong Delta, landed in the city yesterday to supply local people in six districts.

Up to 17,000 face masks, 600 items of protective clothing and 500 bottles of hand sanitiser were handed to reporters in Đà Nẵng, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam and Quảng Ngãi on August 1-4.

Local donors and restaurant owners voluntarily provided free food to 3,200 college students living at 17 dormitories.

About 20 ventilators have been donated by businesses nationwide to the city’s hospitals.

Medical workers take samples for SARS-CoV-2 tests in Đà Nẵng. More tests will be taken at the city, Quảng Nam and Quảng Ngãi. Photo courtesy Đà Nẵng Health Department

Authorities on the Chàm Islands, 20km off the coast of Hội An city in Quảng Nam Province, have been tracing islanders who had indirect communication with COVID-19 patients on the mainland.

Vice chairwoman of the islands' people’s committee, Phạm Thị Mỹ Hương, said seven people had been quarantined.

Chàm Islands, off the coast of Hội An city, had isolated seven people in close contact with COVID-19 patients. VNS Photo Công Thành

The Lý Sơn islands, off Quảng Ngãi Province, said it had tested all people returning from the mainland, and had not recorded any cases of SARS-CoV-2, according to vice chairwoman Phạm Thị Hương.

The islands with a population of 22,000 also began social distancing orders at public sites from July 27, and all sea trips were banned between the islands and the mainland, she said. — VNS