Paris Hotel on Lê Hồng Phong Street, Ngô Quyền District, Hải Phòng City, was locked down as a positive patient has stayed here. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Ngọc

HÀ NỘI — Two Vietnamese women who entered the country illegally via Phú Quốc Island in the southern province of Kiên Giang have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the Ministry of Health said on Friday.

Both of them, aged 25, entered Việt Nam on a fishing vessel from Cambodia on March 22. There were 10 people on board – two men and eight women. The same day, one of the confirmed patients along with another woman travelled to HCM City by boat and road, while the other patient flew to Hà Nội on Vietjet flight VJ458 before going to Hải Phòng in a private car.

The woman who went to HCM City feared she had contracted the virus and went for a medical check-up at FV hospital in District 7 on March 24 on the pretext of needing a COVID-19 test to prepare for a trip abroad.

She was confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 on March 25 and is being quarantined at Củ Chi field hospital.

The woman that accompanied her had already contracted the virus in Cambodia. She was hospitalised on March 3 and discharged on March 14 after having two negative tests 48 hours apart from each other.

HCM City Centre for Disease Control (CDC) on Friday said two sites had been locked down, Quốc Thái Hotel in Bình Chánh District and Alley No.102 Lê Văn Thọ Street, Gò Vấp District, in connection with the positive case.

Further contact tracing is ongoing and eight of her direct contacts (F1) and 23 contacts of F1 cases have tested negative for the virus.

Meanwhile, the other positive woman was tested at Vinmec Hospital in Hải Phòng City on March 24 and was confirmed positive the following day.

The Ministry of Health issued an urgent notice on Thursday night asking all passengers on flight VJ458 from Phú Quốc to Nội Bài International Airport in Hà Nội on March 22 to contact medical stations nearby for support and go into self-isolation.

After returning to Hải Phòng, the woman went to visit a relative in Đại Hợp Commune, Kiến Thuỵ District on the evening of March 22, then stayed at the hostel Ngọc Trang in Tú Sơn Commune, Kiến Thuỵ District.

From March 23 to March 25, she stayed at Paris Hotel on Lê Hồng Phong Street, Đằng Giang Ward, Ngô Quyền District.

On March 24, she felt sick and went to Vinmec Hải Phòng Hospital for a COVID-19 test.

Twenty-one of her direct contacts have been identified and their first COVID-19 tests all return negative, but they still need to undergo a 14-day quarantine at a local hospital.

All venues connected to the patient have been locked down and disinfected, Hải Phòng authorities said.

Regarding the other people on board the fishing boat, two men hailed a taxi to travel to HCM City, four women – including the two confirmed patients – stayed at a hostel called Khoa Thư (363A Nguyễn Văn Cừ on Phú Quốc Island), while four other women’s next destinations are unknown.

Meanwhile, authorities in Thuận An City, Bình Dương Province sealed off road D35 in the Việt Nam-Singapore residential area in An Phú as one Chinese man living there has contracted COVID-19. The man went to Mộc Bài border gate in Tây Ninh Province to purchase goods a couple of days ago.

Authorities have identified eight people who came into close contact with the man.

As of Friday morning, Việt Nam had documented a total of 1,603 domestically-transmitted infections, including 910 logged since the latest outbreak on January 27.

Some 36,480 people who came in close contact with COVID-19 patients or arrived from pandemic-hit areas are under quarantine nationwide.

The Ministry of Health’s Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department said 2,265 patients had been given the all-clear so far.

The National Expanded Programme on Immunisation said an additional 2,408 people were inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines as of Thursday, bringing the total number of vaccinated people to 42,225, mostly frontline medical workers. — VNS