Inan urgent notice sent to People’s Committees of districts and agencies onFebruary 4, the municipal Department of Sports and Culture urged stepping upthe communication work to raise public awareness of the acute respiratorydisease caused by nCoV and countermeasures.

Asfrom February 3, the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem district has haltedactivities at the pedestrian streets in the district, which attract tens ofthousands of people during each weekend.

Themoves are aimed at limiting the gathering of large numbers of people, in orderto curb the spread of the dangerous virus.

As of February 4afternoon, Vietnam had recorded ten nCoV cases, with the latest patient being a42-year-old woman in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, who had had closecontact with an nCoV female patient in the province.

According to theVietnamese Ministry of Health, the deadly virus has now spread to 27 countriesand territories worldwide, with 19,843 confirmed cases as of 6:00 on February 4./. VNA