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Vietnam aims to keep number of coronavirus cases in country under 1,000

FILE PHOTO: Vietnamese woman who came back from China wears a protective mask while talking on the phone with a relative inside a quarantine area at a military base in Lang Son province

By Khanh Vu

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam is aiming to keep the number of coronavirus cases in the country under 1,000, the government said, as the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country passed 150 on Friday.

"We have been able to contain epicentres, and even potential epicentres ... and we are determined to keep the number of COVID-19 cases from reaching 1,000," deputy prime minister Vu Duc Dam said in a statement.

Vietnam will limit domestic flights and stop public gatherings for two weeks from Saturday in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The country has already moved to bar entry to all foreigners, suspend international flights and put tens of thousands of people under quarantine.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by James Pearson and Catherine Evans)