All residents at 12th Floor of Phạm Viết Chánh Residential Area in HCM City have tested negative to COVID-19. — Photo laodong.vn

HCM CITY — All the neighbours of a recovered COVID-19 patient suspected to have relapsed in HCM City have tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Nguyễn Đình Anh, head of the Ministry of Health's Department of Communications, Emulation and Reward, said on Tuesday morning that the samples from residents on the 12th Floor, Lot D, Phạm Viết Chánh Residential Area in Bình Thạnh District’s Ward 19 were negative, including samples from Patient 326 and their family members.

Earlier, on Monday evening, the People's Committee of Ward 19 took samples from residents following a report that Patient 326 had relapsed.

Patient 326, 20, is a student who returned from France to Việt Nam on May 24. He was immediately tested and quarantined upon arrival. His sample tested positive the following day.

He was announced recovered on June 9 and continued under home quarantine for another 14 days at Phạm Viết Chánh Residential Area. On June 20, his daily test showed a weak positive result.

Due to relapse fears, the city’s health sector tested for him and people living around as a precautionary measure.

The Ministry of Health advised people not to worry about the sudden mass as many patients had re-tested weak positive for the coronavirus after being discharged from the hospital but they were unable to spread the disease.

As of Tuesday, HCM City has had 61 COVID-19 patients, of which 57 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. The total number of people in concentrated quarantine is 568 people while 119 others are under quarantine at residences. — VNS