A wet market in Da Nang, which is now Vietnam’s epicenter of COVID-19, has been closed from Tuesday night after three people who had regularly shopped there tested positive for the coronavirus.

The three were confirmed as Vietnam’s COVID-19 patients No. 781, 795, and 802 on August 8.

However, authorities were only recently able to track their travel history and found that all were regular visitors to Nai Hien Dong Market in the namesake ward of Son Tra District.

The market was therefore ordered to close from Tuesday night, according to the ward’s chairman Cao Dinh Hai.

On Tuesday morning, Son Tra District’s Center for Disease Control in collaboration with the People’s Committee of Nai Hien Dong Ward also sampled more than 450 sellers and visitors at the market for COVID-19 testing.

Results are expected to arrive on Thursday at the earliest.

If all the samples are negative for the novel coronavirus, Nai Hien Dong Market will be reopened.

In the meantime, the local authorities advise people to shop at other markets and supermarkets in the central city.

Previously, authorities in Da Nang also required residents to visit local markets less often in a bid to curb the outbreak.

A new approach that seeks to limit each Da Nang household’s market trips to no more than once every three days started to be implemented from Wednesday.

Vietnam has logged 866 cases in total, including 321 imported patients who were quarantined upon arrival, since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in January.

Four-hundred and five local infections have been registered since July 25, when Da Nang recorded Vietnam's first community-based COVID-19 case after the country had gone 99 days without any local transmission.

Among Vietnam’s patients, 400 have been cleared of the virus, while 17 virus-deaths have been recorded.

Social distancing regulations were previously implemented in Da Nang City from July 28 until August 11 to control the epidemic.

The period was extended on Wednesday due to continued community transmission.

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