Another 5 coronavirus cases confirmed in central Vietnam province, raising total to 44

Five people who had direct contact with an infected woman in Vietnam central province of Binh Thuan were confirmed infected on Thursday, raising the province’s number of cases to nine and the country’s to 44.

The five new cases were the 59-year-old husband, 28-year-old son, two-year-old granddaughter, an in-law and a 12-year-old neighbor boy of the businesswoman who tested positive after a trip back to Washington D.C.

On Wednesday, her house-help, an employee and daughter-in-law were confirmed infected.

All nine patients are being quarantined and treated at Binh Thuan General Hospital, which has received personnel support from Ho Chi Minh City.

The businesswoman, 51, had flown from Ho Chi Minh City to New York on February 22, transiting at the Incheon International Airport in South Korea for three hours.

On February 29, she flew back from Washington D.C., transiting at the Doha International Airport in Qatar. She landed at the Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC on March 2 and took a car home to the resort town of Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan.

On March 5, she developed high fever and a cough. Four days later, she was admitted to the Binh Thuan General Hospital and placed under quarantine pending Covid-19 tests, and the results came back positive.

With the Thursday updates, Binh Thuan is now the worst hit locality in Vietnam, followed by Hanoi with five cases.

Vietnam has recorded 28 infection cases over the past six days, after going 22 clean days with no infections. Earlier, 16 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from hospitals by February 26. Le Nga reported on VNExpress

All Vietnamese citizens and foreigners living in Vietnam are able to declare their health status via smartphone-based apps co-developed by the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and domestic IT companies now.

The two apps – NCOVI for Vietnamese nationals and Vietnam Health Declaration for foreigners in Vietnam – launched on Monday afternoon are now available on Android’s Google Play Store and pending approval on the Apple’s App Store.

These apps are recommended for all people living in the country to update their health status, helping the healthcare sector proactively control and prevent COVID-19.

Users can provide personal information and physical conditions on the ‘Universal health declaration’ section on the home screen and update their own data in the ‘health tracking’ section.