Fences around a locked down area in Hải Dương City, the northern province of Hải Dương. The city has been isolated to stop the spread of COVID-19. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Minh

HÀ NỘI — Social distancing is being observed in Hải Dương City, 57km east of Hà Nội, after a 63-year-old local man (known as Patient 867) was confirmed positive with SARS-CoV-2 last week.

The period started at midnight on Friday and lasts for 15 days.

Residents are required to stay at home and only go out to shop for basic necessities.

They must also refrain from travelling out of the city and must ask for permission if travel is of the utmost necessity.

All restaurants and shops, including those with delivery services, have been closed. So have hair salons and beauty parlours which possess a high risk of community infection.

Taxis are allowed to carry only one passenger at a time. Buses from outside are not allowed to enter the city.

Four more COVID-19 patients have been identified in Hải Dương since Friday. Three of them had contact with Patient 867 (known as Patient 906, 907 and 908) and another visited the restaurant at No 36 Ngô Quyền Street where he frequented (known as Patient 950).

Hải Dương Province’s authorities said they have identified 621 people linked to these five patients and the restaurant, which are now being isolated at the dormitory of the University of Hải Dương.

Speaking at a meeting of the city’s leaders on COVID-19 prevention on Sunday, Nguyễn Đình Thực, deputy director of Hải Dương’s Disease Control Centre, said the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus found in Hải Dương City is identical to that of the virus found in the central city of Đà Nẵng in late July.

It is the 6th strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus identified in Việt Nam, which can spread faster than the previous five.

On Saturday, a team of five medical experts was sent from Hà Nội’s Bạch Mai Hospital to Hải Dương Province to support local doctors in testing people suspected of having COVID-19. — VNS