Coronavirus: Vietnam sets up field hospitals

Authorities prepare to treat thousands of Coronavirus patients from mainland China.

Vietnam.- Vietnam is setting up field hospitals with thousands of beds to treat patients suspected to have contracted the Coronavirus.

The information comes from health officials, while the country is getting prepared to receive nationals from China. 

Vietnam has 10 confirmed cases of Coronavirus — including three people with no recent travel history to China.

The virus, declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, has so far killed nearly 500 people and infected more than 24,000, mostly in mainland China. 

Travel restrictions, flight bans and quarantines have been imposed as countries ramp up efforts to control the fast-spreading pathogen.

In Vietnam’s southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh city — where three cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed — two existing facilities are being converted into field hospitals with a total capacity of 500 beds. 

They will “receive, monitor and treat” all suspected patients of Coronavirus if the epidemic spreads further, according to the Director of the city’s health department, Nguyen Tan Binh.

In Hanoi, two military facilities have been turned into quarantine centres for up to 1,500 people as the country prepares to receive 950 people from China to be isolated at the sites. 

Two provinces in northern Vietnam near the China border have also set up beds for close to 3,000 patients. Central Vietnam has centres ready for as many as 3,700. 

All flights, visas and passenger trains to and from China have been cancelled.