Vietnam confirmed three new infections of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Monday, including two Vietnamese nationals and a French citizen, bringing the national total to 60, with 16 full recoveries.

The 58th patient is a 26-year-old woman residing on Yen The Street in Dien Bien Ward, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, the Ministry of Health said on Monday evening.

An international student in France, she arrived at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Sunday and was tested by the capital’s Center for Disease Control after landing.

As her test results returned positive for the novel coronavirus, she and the people who had been in close contact with her have been quarantined at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

The 59th patient is a 30-year-old Vietnam Airlines flight attendant who served on flight VN0054 from London that landed in Hanoi on March 2.

Fifteen people on the flight, including the flight attendant, have been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese woman, who resides in Bo De Ward, Gia Lam District in Hanoi, developed coughing and a fever on Saturday and tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Sunday.

She is being quarantined and treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and is in stable health.

The 60th patient is a 29-year-old Frenchman who flew from Paris to Hanoi on March 9 on the same flight as another COVID-19 patient previously diagnosed in Vietnam on Saturday.

The man visited a number of attractions in Hanoi and the northern province of Ninh Binh.

On March 15, he returned to Hanoi and was tested by the capital’s Center for Disease Control.

He has been confirmed to catch the disease and is now in quarantine.

The three new cases bring Vietnam’s total confirmed COVID-19 infections to 60, with 16 having fully recovered and been discharged from the hospital by February 26.

Patient No. 17 was confirmed in Hanoi on March 6 after the country had reported no new infection in three weeks.

Among the 44 active cases, 18 are foreigners, including 13 Britons and one each from Ireland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and France.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, has infected over 170,200 people and killed more than 6,500 globally as of Monday evening, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

Vietnam has intensified its fight against COVID-19, taking a new approach in the isolation process given the rising number of patients and those having close contact with them, the health ministry said on Sunday.

Measures including making it mandatory that people wear face masks at crowded places like airports, bus stations, train stations, and supermarkets, suspending visas on arrival for all foreigners, and shuttering entertainment facilities in major cities have been adopted in the hope of delaying the virus spread.

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