Patients No 22 and 23 leave Đà Nẵng on April 10. — Photo thoidai.com.vn

HCM CITY — A British man previously declared recovered from COVID-19 has tested positive again.

HCM City’s Health Department on Monday quarantined dozens of people who had close contact with Việt Nam's 22nd patient after the Briton tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 again after finishing treatment.

According to Professor Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, the department’s director, the patient was treated in the central city of Đà Nẵng starting on March 8 and was declared recovered on March 27. He was monitored for a further 14 days after recovering.

On April 10, he took Vietnam Airlines flight VN125 from Đà Nẵng to HCM City on seat No 23C and stayed at a hotel on Hồng Hà Road, Ward 12 before boarding a flight to the UK the next day.

Before boarding, he tested positive once more for the deadly virus.

Fourteen people who had close contact with the man at the quarantine area, three hotel staff and 34 hotel visitors were taken to concentrated quarantine and had samples taken for testing on Monday.

The city’s health department also contacted Vietnam Airlines for a list of passengers on flight VN125.

Those sitting near him will be quarantined and tested for SARS-CoV-2.

The 66-year-old British man arrived as a tourist in Việt Nam on Vietnam Airlines flight VN54 which landed in Hà Nội on March 2.

HCM City has so recorded 54 COVID-19 patients. Forty of them have recovered.

Of active cases, a 43-year-old British pilot on a ventilator (patient No 91) is in critical condition with serious lung inflammation. He tested negative once on April 12 but tested positive again the next day. — VNS