A view of the Phu Quoc International Airport off the coast of Kien Giang Province. The provincial government has proposed suspending passenger flights between HCMC and Phu Quoc City - PHOTO: DTO
HCMC – The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang on July 5 wrote to the Ministry of Transport proposing suspending all passenger flights between HCMC and Phu Quoc Island from 0 a.m. on July 7 to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Although Kien Giang has yet to report any case of community transmission, Phu Quoc is an island far from the mainland with limited healthcare resources. Its infrastructure and medical equipment for quarantine and Covid-19 treatment remain insufficient, the local media reported.
According to the Kien Giang government, the pandemic is still spreading in many parts of the country. Over the past week, more than 3,000 new cases have been confirmed, mainly in HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Long An, Dong Thap and An Giang.
The sources of infection in many cases remain unknown. Moreover, some people who completed their mandatory quarantine have tested positive for Covid-19, resulting in multiple chains of infection.
Therefore, if passenger flights between HCMC and Phu Quoc are maintained, there is a high possibility of the disease spreading to the island.
Therefore, the provincial government sought approval from the Ministry of Transport to suspend HCMC-Phu Quoc flights. Once the pandemic is brought under control, these air services can resume.
The ministry has assigned the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to weigh the proposal and report to the ministry before 9 a.m. today, July 6.
To date, the Ministry of Transport has allowed the suspension of flights from/to Con Dao Airport off the coast of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province and Tho Xuan Airport in Thanh Hoa Province, and flights from HCMC to Quang Ninh, Haiphong, Gia Lai, Quang Binh, Nghe An, Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue.
Due to the suspension of these flights, together with a decline in the travel demands, the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC handled a mere 40-60 domestic flights per day in June, way below the 350-400 flights in the same period of previous years.
