Vietnam’s novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tally rose to 270 patients on Friday night, as the Ministry of Health announced two new cases detected in a quarantine camp.

This is first time in the past week that the Southeast Asian country has confirmed additional infections.

The latest patients are Vietnamese returnees from Japan, the health ministry said.

The male patient is 23 years old, having a registered address in Viet Yen District, Bac Giang Province, located in northern Vietnam.

The female is 22 years old, coming from Yen Dung District in the same province.

The two touched down in Vietnam on Wednesday aboard a flight carrying Vietnamese stranded in Japan, health officials said.

They flew with 158 other passengers hailing from 32 Vietnamese provinces and cities.

After their plane landed at Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh, they were taken to a centralized quarantine zone in Thai Binh Province, about 160km away.

“We took samples from all the passengers [on Wednesday and Thursday],” said Pham Van Diu, director of the Thai Binh Department of Health.

“[On Friday], the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology [in Hanoi] confirmed the two patients’ positive test results.

“Both have been transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases [in the capital] for treatment.”

Their contacts, who traveled on a shuttle bus and stayed with them in a room at the quarantine zone, have been isolated.

Vietnam has discharged 225 COVID-19 patients from hospitals as of Friday night, according to Ministry of Health figures.

The country is quarantining 68,890 people at hospitals, home, and other facilities.

It has carried out 189,253 tests to date.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!