HANOI, March 31 (Reuters) - Vietnam will begin 15 days of social distancing from Wednesday to curb community transmission of the coronavirus, the Southeast Asian country’s prime minister said on Tuesday.

“From midnight April 1, everybody is required to stay at home and can only go out to buy food or in emergency cases and must keep at least two meters from others,” Prime Minster Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a statement.