A working group by the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control inspected a quarantine facility in Hà Nam Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Chinh

HÀ NỘI — Five new imported COVID-19 cases were reported in Việt Nam on Tuesday, all Vietnamese returnees from Russia, which pushed the national tally to 1,288.

Patients No 1,284 and 1,285 are 33 and 29-year-old men, originally from Nghệ An and Bắc Giang provinces.

The two landed at Vân Đồn International Airport in the northern province of Quảng Ninh on October 31 and were immediately transported to a military-run quarantine facility in Hoà Bình Province.

Their third COVID-19 tests conducted on Monday returned positive for coronavirus after two inconclusive tests. The two are being treated Hoà Bình Province General Hospital.

Patients No.1,286-1,288 are 25, 66, and 32-year-old women from Hà Nội, who arrived in Việt Nam from Russia on November 11 at Cam Ranh airport in Khánh Hoà Province.

They were quarantined on arrival.

The second tests done on Monday confirmed the three carry the virus, after the first batch of tests returned negative.

The three patients are currently being treated at Khánh Hoà Province's Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

As many as 16,125 people are being quarantined in different facilities across the country, for having come into close contacts with confirmed COVID-19 patients or returned from virus-affected regions.

To date, Việt Nam has gone 76 consecutive days without community cases of COVID-19.

Suspected COVID-19 reinfection cleared

In another development, all 50 close contacts of a suspected reinfection case in Hà Nội tested negative for coronavirus, health authorities announced on Tuesday, following negative confirmatory tests of the man himself yesterday.

Previously, P.N.M, a 21-year-old male student from Cầu Giấy District, Hà Nội, returning from Russia on August 10, was confirmed to be a COVID-19 patient on August 25 – during the time he was quarantined in Hải Dương Province.

He was treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hà Nội from August 25 to September 17.

He was tested a total of seven times while he was in the hospital, with one returning positive for the virus on the day after he was hospitalised and six others done between August 30 and September 15 returning negative.

After being discharged from the hospital, P.N.M self-isolated at home for another two weeks as per the Vietnamese health ministry’s guidelines and only met with his girlfriend a few times, but he wore masks during the meetings.

After the isolation period ends, he went to study at Hà Nội University. During classes, he usually sat far from other students, but without wearing a mask.

He rarely went outside his home, and wore masks when he did.

On November 14, he suffered from high fever and exhaustion, and his samples were sent to the Việt Nam National Children’s Hospital to be tested for COVID-19 and the results came back positive on November 15.

However, after using confirmatory method RT-PCR, the health ministry concluded that P.N.M is negative for SARS-CoV-2.

With this news, Hà Nội so far has gone 91 days without locally acquired infections. — VNS