Technicians at Hà Nội Centre for Disease Control analysing medical samples taken from suspect COVID-19 cases coming from virus-hit regions. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Another passenger on the flight from London to Việt Nam that carried the country’s 17th COVID-19 patient has tested positive for the disease, making him the 31st patient in Việt Nam.

According to the health ministry, the patient was a 49-year-old British male and is currently under quarantine and receiving treatment at Bắc Quảng Nam Hospital in the central province of Quảng Nam, and in stable health conditions.

He was amongst the 40 foreign tourists who came to the central province after landing in Hà Nội.

The ministry has asked local authorities to track down people who had close contact with the confirmed case so they could be placed under surveillance or quarantine.

The British national was amongst the 12 confirmed cases – including two Vietnamese and 10 foreign citizens – that arrived on the same flight that landed in Nội Bài international airport in Hà Nội on March 2.

The passengers also included a delegation from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, including Minister Nguyễn Chí Dũng and the head of a department under the ministry, who were returning from a business trip and sat in business class with the 17th case.

Aside from a 61-year-old man living in Ba Đình District who started coughing and feeling fatigue on March 6, the remaining members of the delegation had tested negative and shown no symptoms of the acute pneumonia-like disease, the ministry said late Monday.

They will remain in quarantine as a precaution.

The country has recorded 15 new cases in four days – starting with the discovery of 17th case late last Friday, breaking a relative lull since the 16th positive case in the country was successfully treated and discharged on February 26.

The other cases were two Vietnamese nationals who had close contact with the 17th case and one 27-year-old Vietnamese man returning from Republic of Korea’s coronavirus epicentre Daegu on March 3. — VNS

Watch our video on the impacts of the epidemic on Hà Nội's tourism