Vietnamese airlines endures $430m loss amid coronavirus outbreak

With China and other parts of the world reeling from the coronavirus outbreak, Vietnamese airlines had reportedly endured a loss worth $430 million following travel bans between Vietnam and China. According to reports, the country declared a state of public health emergency on February 1 and banned all flights to and from China in order to curb the spread of the virus.

Travel ban to affect approximately 40K

According to reports, Vietnam's civil aviation authority said that the travel ban would affect approximately 400,000 people every month. The statement further added that the percentage of passengers on international flights fell 14.1 per cent during the first week of February during last year. Jetstat Pacific Airlines, Vietjet Aviation and Vietnam Airlines operate on 72 flight routes between Vietnam and China.

Vietnam has confirmed another case of a new coronavirus outbreak on February 11, bringing up its total tally to 15. The Vietnamese ministry reportedly said in a statement that the case was of a three-month-old baby who got infected after her grandmother tested positive for the virus on February 9. According to reports 10 out of 15, confirmed cases were from the northern province of Vinh Phuc.

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Death toll increases in coronavirus related cases

The death toll for the coronavirus outbreak in China reportedly jumped to 1,115 on February 12 with another 1,638 new confirmed cases, according to Hubei's health commission. The total number of confirmed cases across China are now more than 44,200. The virus was officially also named 'COVID-19' at a conference in Geneva held by the World Health Organisation, where the body's chief said that countries had a chance of stopping its global spread. Earlier this month, WHO also declared Coronavirus as a 'global public health emergency'.

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also reportedly said that although 99 per cent of cases are in China, where it remains 'very much an emergency', it also 'holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world'. In order to tackle the spreading virus, WHO stated that the international community has further launched a $675 million preparedness and response plan covering the months of February through to April 2020.

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