Vietnam added 28 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday evening, including 26 local infections and two imported cases, bringing the national tally to 586, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control announced.

The country documented a total of 40 COVID-19 patients on Saturday, a drop from the record spike of 82 cases reported the previous day.

The 28 cases confirmed on Saturday evening are aged between 9 and 86.

Among them, two are imported cases that have been quarantined in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh after arriving from Indonesia on Wednesday.

The other 26 are local infections including 18 in Da Nang, five in the central province of Quang Nam, two in Ho Chi Minh City, and one in the northern province of Thai Binh.

Nineteen of these infections can be traced to Da Nang Hospital while seven — all residing in Da Nang — have unclear epidemiological information.

Vietnam has logged a total of 586 COVID-19 patients since the pandemic first hit in January, 373 of whom have recovered.

Three COVID-19 patients have died in the Southeast Asian country, partly due to severe underlying health conditions.

Vietnam reported its first community-based case after 99 days on Saturday last week.

Since then, 142 local infections have been documented, all can be linked to Da Nang, which is the country's COVID-19 outbreak epicenter now with more than 100 cases in the community.

The coastal tourist city entered 15 days of enhanced social distancing on Tuesday, with nonessential services shuttered and residents banned from gathering in large groups in public places.

The municipal administration on Saturday ordered mass COVID-19 testing for high-risk residents

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