A view of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC. The Ministry of Transport has decided to halt all commercial flights between provinces imposing social distancing - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - The Transport Ministry has approved the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam’s (CAAV) proposal to suspend all passenger flights between cities and provinces that are executing social distancing orders under the prime minister’s Directive No. 16, including flights on the HCMC-Hanoi route.

The move is aimed at tightening control over commercial and chartered flights to prevent the spread of Covid-19, CAAV announced on August 8.

Flights serving public works and the Covid fight are still allowed to operate, including those transporting health workers and officials.

The local authorities must work together to receive health workers and officials upon their arrival, perform Covid tests and quarantine them in accordance with prevailing regulations.

Passenger flights from Hanoi to Can Tho, Phu Quoc and vice versa have been temporarily suspended since July 22.

The HCMC-Hanoi route, which is the country’s busiest air route, has been cut down to two round trips a day since July.