'Border Closure' Vietnam Reports COVID-19 Case After 100 Days

Unable to Trace Infection Route

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] In Vietnam, which closed its borders to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), a confirmed case with an unknown infection route has occurred for the first time in 100 days.

On the 25th, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health announced that a 57-year-old Vietnamese man living in Da Nang, central Vietnam, tested positive for COVID-19 despite having no recent history of traveling abroad. This is the first officially confirmed domestic infection case in Vietnam in 100 days since April 16. Although there have occasionally been imported cases, all were confirmed positive immediately after entry or while in quarantine facilities, so they did not cause any particular issues.

According to local media, the man who tested positive on this day was admitted to Da Nang C Hospital on the 20th with high fever and cough symptoms. He underwent a COVID-19 test on the 22nd, and both test results on the 23rd came back positive. The test conducted on the 24th at the nearby Nha Trang Pasteur Institute also showed a positive result.

Subsequently, the authorities requested a retest at the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, and after a positive result on the 25th, he was announced as Vietnam’s 416th confirmed case. Since the end of March, the authorities have essentially banned all foreign entries and maintained zero community infections for over three months, so this represents a breach in the country’s quarantine system.

Accordingly, the authorities have imposed cohort isolation measures on Da Nang C Hospital and are extensively tracing contacts. Among them, about 100 people who underwent the first round of testing all tested negative, but all have been placed under quarantine.

The problem is that the infection route of the new confirmed case remains unknown. The confirmed patient has not left Da Nang in the past month and is known to have visited relatives’ homes in the city, hospitals, and attended a wedding.

The authorities are reportedly intensifying crackdowns with the possibility of COVID-19 transmission by illegal immigrants in mind. Recently, 27 and 21 illegal Chinese immigrants were consecutively caught in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province, raising concerns.

The authorities have also decided to temporarily suspend the landing of international passenger flights in Da Nang for the return of overseas Koreans and special entry of foreign businesspeople.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.