The family hotel where the latest COVID-19 patient stayed was lockdown. Photo Ha Long Television

HÀ NỘI  —  A Vietnamese man who returned to Việt Nam from the US has been confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 by the Hà Nội Centre for Disease Control after being discharged from centralised quarantine.

Authorities of Hạ Long City in Quảng Ninh Province, where the 22-year-old man resides, said the man landed at Nội Bài International Airport on December 20 on a repatriation flight from the US and was sent to a quarantine facility in Chương Mỹ District, Hà Nội.

During his 14-day quarantine, he tested negative for the virus once. On January 2 he was tested for a second time. On January 4, he completed his quarantine and left for his home in Bãi Cháy Ward of Hạ Long City. On the same day, his positive test result came back, but after he had been allowed to leave.

Authorities have traced people who were in contact with him, namely five family members and eight others who were formerly quarantined with the man in Chương Mỹ.

All five family members have been quarantined and tested negative for the coronavirus once, while the eight people he quarantined with have tested negative twice, but will be isolated for another 14 days and continue COVID-19 screening.

On the night of January 4 and early morning of January 5, the local centre for disease control took the man to the Field Hospital No. 2, sprayed disinfectant at the hotel where he stayed, the area where his family resides in Bãi Cháy Ward and the restaurant where close contacts had dinner.

Khổng Minh Tuấn, deputy director of the Hanoi Centre for Disease Control, said the patient being allowed to leave before the second test came back was not in compliance with quarantine regulations.

He added that the man had no contact with anyone in Hà Nội, so there were no F1 cases related to him in the capital. — VNS