Authorities are concerned about the implications of a coronavirus-infected Vietnamese patient meeting with a lot of people.
Vietnam documented one domestic COVID-19 case on Monday, ending a streak of nearly three months of zero locally-transmitted infections, Ministry of Health reported.
“Patient 1347”, a 32-year-old English teacher, is a resident of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 6. He was a friend of a flight attendant who was confirmed on Saturday as “patient 1342”.
Related: Breaking: Vietnam confirms first case of Covid-19 community transmission after nearly 3 months
The flight attendant returned to Vietnam on November 14 and was sent to a quarantine facility managed by Vietnam Airlines in HCMC from November 14-18. After two negative coronavirus tests, he was self-quarantined at home in Bach Dang Street, Ward 2, HCMC’s Tan Binh District. During his self-quarantine, he had close contacts with his mother and two friends, including the English teacher who lived in the same house with him and is now “patient 1347”.
Health workers have identified and quarantined at least 192 people, including 38 F1 cases and 154 F2, who had direct and indirect contact with patient 1,347.
The new patient had visited a karaoke bar and a cafe over the past few days. Those businesses have been closed, and the authority has sent officers to spray the premises with disinfectant. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health says it is conducting contact tracing.
Ministry of Health has directed the health department to isolate and fumigate the places the patient had visited, they also warned the public to stay on high alert at a time when the coronavirus has re-emerged in many parts of the world and Vietnam is still granting entry to certain groups of people who are subject to mandatory quarantine.
The one domestic and three imported cases raised Vietnam’s active case count to 130.
Vietnam has recorded 1,347 Covid-19 cases so far, with 35 deaths. Three others died after they had been confirmed Covid-19 free, and thus were not counted in either the recoveries or the deaths. Over 16,000 are quarantined nationwide at present.
The Vietnamese government has deployed various measures to combat the virus, including halting all international flights and quarantining people returning to Vietnam from other countries.