The move follows document No 1696/TTg-KGVX, issued on December 17, as well as directive No 33/CT-Ttg, issued December 19, by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, which ask ministries and localities to strengthen measures to prevent diseases in the winter and spring seasons. It aims to ensure people fully enjoy the Tet (Lunar) New Year nationwide.

Therefore, Dam also required the ministries and agencies to closely monitor and strengthen medical quarantine at airports, seaports and border gates.

Dam told the Ministry of Health to urgently issue a plan to cope with the disease following current regulations and recommendations of the World Health Organisation.

The ministry had to ensure sufficient facilities and medical materials, as well as make sure staff are properly trained, he added.

The Ministry of Information and Communication was required to co-operate with the health ministry to provide timely and accurate information on the disease’s developments so that people could actively prevent the disease.

The new coronavirus strain, first discovered in China’s Wuhan, has caused alarm because of its connection to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The first patient developed symptoms on December 12, 2019.

The virus has killed at least three people and affected more than 200; including four cases confirmed outside China – in South Korea, Thailand and Japan.