Health workers in Ho Chi Minh City have conducted an epidemiological investigation into a local resident who illegally entered Vietnam from neighboring Cambodia amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The municipal Center for Disease Control said in a statement on Tuesday that the Medical Center in Tan Binh District was notified on Sunday of a woman who had made an illegal entry into Vietnam from Cambodia by road.

The woman was identified as a resident in Ward 5 of Tan Binh District, so local health workers started retracing her journey.

On May 13, the woman returned to Vietnam by road via Chau Doc City in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

She then paid a visit to two of her relatives in the city and stayed there several days before traveling to Ho Chi Minh City by coach on May 16.

After verifying her case, health workers in Tan Binh District have quarantined the woman, her husband, and their two children while having taken their samples for COVID-19 testing.

Their results have come back negative for the coronavirus after the first round of testing.

Residents should not be complacent since there remain risks of the community spread of COVID-19, the municipal Center for Disease Control warned.

“Everyone should stay vigilant and continue taking preventative measures against the disease,” the center said.

Last week, Vietnam confirmed a COVID-19 patient who was a 35-year-old Vietnamese man who had crossed the border from Cambodia illegally through a small trail into the southern province of Tay Ninh, around 100 kilometers northwest of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam has been orchestrating the repatriation of citizens who are stranded in foreign countries, with all returnees required to be placed in quarantine for a fortnight at centralized facilities.

A national social distancing campaign that shut down non-essential businesses, such as bars, cinemas, barbershops and gyms, ended after April 22. Since then, life has returned to striking normalcy.

On Monday evening, Vietnam confirmed four new COVID-19 cases, including two attendants from a flight from Russia and two Vietnamese students who previously studied in the United States, bringing the country’s tally to 324.

Without a single death, at least 263 patients have recovered from the disease, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

The Southeast Asian country has not logged any community infections since April 17, as all COVID-19 patients reported after this date were imported cases.

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