HÀ NỘI — A Danish tourist who travelled across Việt Nam unaware she was carrying the SARS-COV-2 virus is among the latest positive cases announced by the Ministry of Health on Saturday.

The total number of infected patients in the country is now 169.

The 20-year-old and her male friend visited Hà Nội, Hà Giang, Huế, and Hội An after arriving in the country 20 days ago.

Details released also reveal two members of staff at Bạch Mai Hospital in the capital have also tested positive for SARS-COV-2.

It is understood they may have contracted the disease from a source outside the hospital and as a result, medical officials have asked anyone who came to the hospital within the past two weeks to self-isolate.

The MoH said in their statement the 164th patient is a 23-year-old male, from Rạch Giá, Kiên Giang.

The patient is a student in the UK, who returned to Việt Nam on March 23 on flight VN0054 of Vietnam Airlines (seat 22K) and was quarantined at Vân Đồn airport in Quảng Ninh Province.

The patient was then transferred to the quarantine area of ​​Regiment 855 (Ninh Bình Province), and his sample was sent to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on March 23. Currently, he is being treated at Ninh Bình General Hospital and is in a stable condition.

The 165th case is a 58-year-old male from Tiên Dương Commune, Đông Anh District in Hà Nội. He returned from UK to Việt Nam on March 23 on flight VN0054 (seat 41C) landing at Vân Đồn airport (the same flight with patient 164).

He was then transferred to quarantine area of ​​Military School in Ninh Bình Province. His sample was sent to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on March 26. Currently, the patient is being treated in Ninh Binh General Hospital and stable.

The 166th patient is a 25-year-old female, whose address is in Đông Phú, Lục Nam District, Bắc Giang Province. The patient lived in Thailand, returned to Việt Nam on March 20 on flight TG564 (seat 40B) on Thai Airways.

She was transferred to the quarantine section of Division 241 (Ninh Bình Province), her sample was sent to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on March 26. Currently, she is being treated in Ninh Bình General Hospital where she is in a stable condition.

The 167^th patient 167 is the 20-year-old Danish woman. She is a tourist travelling with another 22-year-old male friend.

On March 7, she and her friend arrived on flight QR0976 (seats 37K and 37J), at Nội Bài airport on March 8.

She stayed at a hotel on Hàng Chiếu Street, Hoàn Kiếm District from March 9-12. On March 12, the patient travelled to Hà Giang City on a passenger bus of Ngọc Sơn Transport Company and stayed in Hà Giang Province until March 15. She stayed at Jasmine - Phương Thiện Hotel. When she came back to Hà Nội, she stayed at Kingly hotel, no 8 Lý Thái Tổ Street.

On March 3, the patient travelled to Huế City on a passenger bus. In Huế, she stayed at Sunshine 3 Hotel, No. 10 Võ Thị Sáu Street then went to Hội An and stayed at the Backpacker Hotel, 250 Cửa Đại from March 19 to 23.

On March 23, the patient travelled from Đà Nẵng to Hà Nội on flight number VJ530 (seat 19E, landed at Nội Bài at 9am), and continued to stay at the Kingly Hotel.

To meet the airline's requirement of having papers certifying they are all clear of the disease, on March 24, the patient and her friend went to the National Pediatric Hospital for testing. She tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Her friend is negative.

Both of them were transferred to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases 2 in Đông Anh District, Hà Nội.

She is currently in a stable condition.

Patient numbers 168 and 169 are both 49-year-old women working at Bạch Mai Hospital providing water for patients.

In total 5,000 members of staff at the hospital, and their family members and close friends, have been tested for COVID-19 after two other nurses previously tested positive.

They were the first members of the hospital to test positive for the virus last week. For now, eight patients have been identified to be related with Bạch Mai hospitals, including three recorded Friday.

The Ministry of Health said that the hospital took samples to test all health workers, patients and their family members.

A total of 134 staff at the Bạch Mai Tropical Diseases Center were related to patient 86 and patient 87 and the Department of Cardiology C4, all results were negative.

The Ministry of Health has identified there is a possibility of transmission among patients' family members who came to care for patients, the source of infection from outside into hospitals.

Currently, Bạch Mai Hospital is taking all measures to control, suspend receiving patients and isolate the entire hospital to ensure safety for patients, patients' relatives and hospital staff.

The Ministry of Health recommends that all patients and their family members who have come to the hospital for examination and treatment within the past 14 days perform self-isolation and contact the nearest health agency for health monitoring. — VNS