Vietnam quarantines 8 more with suspected coronavirus

In Saigon, three members of a French family arriving on Saturday from Wuhan, the epicenter of the nCoV, are in quarantine at the City Children’s Hospital in Binh Chanh District, according to the Department of Health.

In Hanoi, two Vietnamese and a foreigner whose nationality has not been revealed were quarantined on Saturday, according to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control.

They were returning from China with symptoms of the novel coronavirus infection.

In the south central Binh Thuan Province, a Chinese and a Vietnamese were quarantined as of Saturday, according to the province health department.

Ow Zin Aw, the Chinese national, works in Vietnam, flew to China on January 15 and flew back to Saigon on January 29. He left for Ham Thuan Nam District in Binh Thuan by car the same day.

On January 30 he showed symptoms like fever and sore throat, went to the Binh Thuan General Hospital and has been quarantined there since.

The Vietnamese is a 21-year-old studying in Taiwan who flew to Saigon on January 22 and took a bus to Duc Trong District in the Central Highlands Province of Lam Dong.

On January 31 she and her mother went by bus to a commune in Bac Binh District in Binh Thuan Province to visit her grandparents. The same evening she had a fever and sore throat and was vomiting, and was taken to the Regional General Hospital of Binh Thuan. She has been quarantined there since.

As of Saturday there were 1,147 Chinese in Binh Thuan, 144 of them local residents and the rest tourists.

On January 30 the province, home to popular beach town Mui Ne, ordered travel companies not to bring in Chinese tourists.

Vietnam had reported 92 suspected cases with symptoms like high fever and coughing including some who visited infected areas in China, as of Sunday.

Of them, 27 are in quarantine pending test results.

There are seven confirmed cases, a Vietnamese American who transited in Wuhan, three Vietnamese arriving from Wuhan, two Chinese nationals, and a hotel receptionist who caught the coronavirus infection from the two Chinese, who are presently quarantined in Saigon.

Vietnam's government declared the novel coronavirus an epidemic on Saturday.

The death toll in China had reached 304 as of Saturday, according to the country’s National Health Commission.