Authorities in Hanoi have fenced off a village with nearly 10,900 residents after a local man had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The People’s Committee in Me Linh District decided to seal off its Ha Loi Village, made up of 2,973 households with 10,873 residents, on Tuesday evening.

The lockdown is expected to last for 14 days.

Ha Loi Village is where Q.Q.T., 47, resides. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday and became Vietnam’s patient No. 243.

T. previously took his wife to Bach Mai Hospital – Hanoi’s largest COVID-19 cluster with over 40 cases so far – for a health check on March 12.

On March 21, he developed a fever and fatigue, but the symptoms were mitigated after he took some medicine.

He was sampled on April 4 and the result came back positive on April 6.

Prior to his diagnosis, the man had attended a wedding ceremony and a death anniversary party in Ha Loi Village.

He also visited Phuc Yen General Hospital in the northern province of Vinh Phuc and Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital.

The Ministry of Health has been tracking all people who had close contact with the patient for health monitoring and quarantine.

Three of them have tested positive for the virus at least once so far.

Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of the Hanoi administration, has asked authorities in Ha Loi Village to raise awareness of the mandatory lockdown among local residents.

He also requested that local authorities ensure sufficient supply of food and essentials for the residents during this period.

A similar large-scale lockdown was previously imposed on Son Loi Commune, home to 10,600 people, in Vinh Phuc Province for 21 days from February 13 to March 4, after five people in the locality had been sickened by COVID-19.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, has infected over 1.42 million people and killed more than 81,700 globally as of Wednesday morning, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

Vietnam has announced 251 COVID-19 patients so far, with 122 having recovered.

No fatality related to the disease has been reported in the country to date.

Hanoi has the highest number of COVID-19 patients in Vietnam with 110 cases having been recorded by Wednesday morning.

The capital started fining those leaving their house without a justifiable reason on Saturday last week.

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