Three of the eight new cases are foreigners, with one holding German citizenship and two being French, according to health authorities.
The German man, 30, temporarily resides in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung district. He boarded SU290 plane and entered Vietnam through Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport on March 13.
The man had travelled to several places in the capital city before showing flu-like symptoms including high temperature on March 15. Later tests by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology proved he had been infected with the virus.
The patient was placed in quarantine at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases No2 in Hanoi’s Dong Anh district. He is currently in stable health condition.
Meanwhile, one of the French patients, 25, flew from France to Vietnam on March 9 together with her boyfriend whose virus infection had been confirmed by health authorities.
She was said to have toured several places of interest in Hanoi and Ninh Binh province. She was admitted to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases No2 on March 15 and tested positive for the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. She is now in good health.
The other French patient is a 52-year-old passenger on board TK162 aircraft landing at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on March 3. He had travelled to major tourist attractions in three regions across Vietnam before being admitted to the Hospital of Tropical Disease No2 on March 16.
He was then diagnosed with the coronavirus.
The remaining five cases are all Vietnamese residents, who boarded different aircraft from France and the UK to Vietnam on March 4, 9, and 16. One of them is an 11-year-old boy from Hai Duong province.
At present Hanoi has the highest number of infection (19), followed by Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Thuan and Quang Ninh provinces.
Vietnam has to date recorded 76 cases of infection, of which 16 had fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. The remaining 60 cases are being quarantined and treated at hospitals. All but two are in stable health condition.
