Vietnam vows to punish hiders of coronavirus after new cases

Guests wearing protective face masks while they stand behind a glass door of a hotel, where cases of coronavirus were detected in Hanoi on Monday (March 9). Vietnamese authorities vowed on Monday to punish anyone concealing sickness after 13 people caught the deadly new coronavirus on a flight to Hanoi, sparking lockdowns and panic-buying in the capital. - Reuters

HANOI: Vietnamese authorities vowed on Monday (March 9) to punish anyone concealing sickness after 13 people caught the deadly new coronavirus on a flight to Hanoi, sparking lockdowns and panic-buying in the capital.

The South-East Asian country had previously reported only 16 cases of the virus despite bordering China -- the epicentre of the global outbreak -- but a cluster of infections was discovered at the weekend among 201 passengers on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Britain.