The 31-year-old male patient, who lived in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 10, worked with the 34th patient on March 3 and rode in the same car as the 45th patient from Binh Thuan Province to HCM City on March 4.
On Tuesday, he was instructed by local authorities to self-quarantine at home after the 34th patient was confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Vietnam News Agency reports.
On Friday, he was sent to a centralized quarantine area in District 10 and had blood samples taken. At the time, he showed no symptoms.
Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases confirmed he tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday morning.
The 48th patient is the 10th case connected to the 34th patient in Binh Thuận Province – a businesswoman who travelled to the US on February 22 and returned to Việt Nam on March 29.
She transited at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport on the way to New York and Qatar’s Doha International Airport on the way back.
Vietnam records single day drop of 200 Coronavirus suspects
Of the 94, 86 had entered quarantine Friday, and all of them are now in hospitals, the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) announced.
According to a local media VNExpress, Vietnam defines suspected infections as those who return from stricken areas or have had direct contact with returnees from stricken areas and show symptoms of the Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Those classifed as suspects must be quarantined at hospitals specialized for Covid-19 treatment and tested twice for the virus. Aside from quarantining suspects, Vietnam has placed many others under medical monitoring – those entering Vietnam from virus-hit areas or have met with infected patients but have not showed any Covid-19 symptoms.
These people are routinely checked at entry ports before being sent to medical camps for a 14-day monitoring. Some people with low infection risks are quarantined at home, monitored by police and checked by medical staff every day. Anyone showing signs of Covid-19 symptoms like coughing or fever will then be placed in hospital quarantine. If they test negative for the coronavirus, they will undergo additional monitoring at home or a medical camp.
As of Saturday morning, there were more than 27,000 people placed under medical monitoring, more than half of them quarantined at home.
The country had gone 22 days without any new infection. Previously, 16 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals.