Health workers at Vân Đồn International Airport instruct people who returned home from Russia on May 13.. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Twenty four people returning to Việt Nam on a flight from Russia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control announced the new cases on Friday morning.

The total number of infections in Việt Nam since the first on January 23, now stands at 312, with 172 of those imported cases from overseas.

There have been no community transmissions of the virus for more than a month and no deaths.

The new cases are aged between 24 and 47. One is being treated at the Hospital No2 of the northern province of Quảng Ninh and the rest are at Thái Bình Province General Hospital. One is a woman and 23 are men.

The flight from Moscow landed on May 13 and was carrying mostly children under the age of 18, students, the elderly, sick people, tourists and people whose visas had expired but could not leave the country.

The 345 repatriated citizens as well as the crew from the Vietnam Airline flight, were all immediately quarantined after the flight touched down at Vân Đồn International Airport in the northern province of Quảng Ninh.

The country’s total recovered cases now stand at 260 after eight Vietnamese patients with COVID-19 have recovered on Thursday afternoon.

Of the 52 active cases including 24 new cases, five patients have tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 once and other nine tested negative for the virus more than twice.

As many as 12,236 people are under quarantine including 353 quarantined at hospitals, 8,492 at concentrated quarantine areas and 3,391 at home. They either returned from abroad or came into close contact with confirmed cases. — VNS