All of the latest patients, all foreigners, were on the same flight VN0054 of Vietnam Airlines with the city’s first COVID-19 patient, a 27-year-old woman, who returned to Việt Nam from Europe on March 2.

Four of them were in the coastal province of Quảng Ninh, two in the northern province of Lào Cai, and two British in the central city of Đà Nẵng.

Sixteen of the 29 patients were given the all-clear. The remaining 13 have been put under quarantine and are all in good conditions.

Six other people who were on the same flight as Viet Nam's 17th novel coronavirus patient have tested negative for COVID-19 in the central city of Đà Nẵng.

The six, including four foreign nationals, were on the same flight that arrived in Hà Nội on March 2 as the young woman who tested positive on Friday.

They were tested on Saturday and kept isolated at the Public Security Hospital No 199 and are all healthy.

Dr Tôn Thất Thạnh, director of Đà Nẵng City’s Centre for Disease Control, confirmed the test results on Sunday, stating that samples of four foreigners, including two from Finland and two from Norway, and two air-hostesses (whose homes are in Đà Nẵng), tested negative for COVID-19.

Thạnh said the four foreigners arrived in the city via a train bound for HCM City from Hà Nội and were seated in an isolated and sterilised carriage. They were taken to be isolated at the hospital immediately after arriving in the central city on Saturday.

Their results were ready within five hours of being tested, he added.

Thạnh said the six people will be kept at the hospital for 14 days to monitor their health.

Doctors at the hospital said the six people did not exhibit any signs of cough, fever or sore throat, while their lung x-ray results showed they were healthy.

The latest report from the city’s health department showed 229 out of a total of 239 people, including 48 foreigners, had been released from Đà Nẵng hospitals after being isolated. A total of 190 samples tested negative for COVID-19.

In Quảng Nam Province, 33 tourists, who were also on the same flight as the 17th COVID-19 patient, and seven others on a trip to Hội An were isolated and had their body temperature checked at hotels and hospital in the city from Saturday.

Medical samples were sent for testing from Saturday, and the provincial department of health will announce as soon as results come out.

In Thừa Thiên-Huế province, 12 tourists on flight VN0054 with the 17th COVID-19 patient of Việt Nam have been isolated at four hospitals since they arrived in Huế City on Saturday. They will be isolated for 14 days.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan Ngọc Thọ has said the province was staying vigilant.

He also said four Chinese and two Vietnamese, who arrived in the province on March 4, had been isolated at the provincial Military Training School.

Of the four Chinese – only one entered the country through an official border gate with a passport.

The Chinese group (three passed the country’s unofficial border checkpoint without passports) said they were fleeing COVID-19 stricken China. — VNS