Vietnam reported no new cases of COVID-19 for the first time in five weeks on Sunday, with 19 recoveries announced the same day.

The country had logged zero coronavirus cases, either local or imported, for the past 24 hours, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control said.

This is the first time in the last 36 days that it has documented no new patients.

The Ministry of Health confirmed 19 recoveries on Sunday, all in Da Nang, which is the country’s outbreak epicenter.

Vietnam has registered 1,040 coronavirus infections, 690 of them imported, since the pandemic first hit it on January 23.

A total of 695 patients have recovered from the disease while 32 have lost their lives, most having suffered critical underlying medical problems.

Two patients died after having tested negative for the virus at least three times. Another one passed away before his test result came back positive. The health ministry did not include these three fatalities in the death toll.

The Southeast Asian country has recorded 550 local cases since July 25, when Da Nang detected the first domestic infection after Vietnam had gone 99 days without documenting any community case.

Vietnam reported 82 cases on July 31, the highest daily spike in the period between July 25 and now.

Most of the local cases have been traced back to Da Nang.

The 550 cases include 389 in Da Nang, 96 in Quang Nam Province, 15 in Hai Duong Province, 11 in Hanoi, eight in Ho Chi Minh City, seven in Quang Tri Province, six in Bac Giang Province, five in Quang Ngai Province, four in Lang Son Province, three in Dak Lak Province, two in Dong Nai Province, one in Thai Binh Province, one in Ha Nam Province, one in Thanh Hoa Province, and one in Khanh Hoa Province.

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