BREAKING NEWS: Vietnam Orders City-Wide Emergency Evacuation of 80,000 People

Vietnam has ordered the evacuation of 80,000 people from the coastal city of Danang after reports that three residents there tested positive for coronavirus.

THE government said the evacuation would take four days and involve flights chartered to 11 different Vietnamese cities. The country is reported to be taking no chances with the evacuation and does not want this new, albeit small, outbreak to get out of hand.

Vietnam, which had been praised recently for its pandemic response after reporting just 400 cases and no deaths, went back on high alert at the weekend as it confirmed its first local infections since April, all were registered in the popular tourist area of Danang.

The country is still closed to foreign tourism, but there had been a surge in domestic travellers looking to take advantage of discounted flights and holiday packages to local hotels and resorts. Those returning from Da Nang to other parts of the country will be now be required to quarantine at home for 14 days, said the health ministry.

A Scottish pilot, who spent more than two months on a ventilator in Vietnam, has warned Britons “not to be blasé about coronavirus” as lockdown eases.

Stephen Cameron, 42, from Motherwell, was Vietnam’s sickest patient and became known nationwide as Patient 91. “I’m a living example of what this virus can do and how it is serious,” he said from his Wishaw hospital bed. His doctors say he now faces “a long path” to recovery.