Vietnam’s health ministry announced six imported cases of COVID-19, including a French expert, on Monday, taking the national tally to 1,140.

All of the patients were sent to a quarantine facility upon their entry into the country, the Ministry of Health said.

Patient 1,135 landed at Van Don International Airport in northern Quang Ninh Province from Russia aboard flight VN5062 on Friday last week.

He was sent to a quarantine center managed by the military in the northern province of Ninh Binh upon arrival.

His sample was taken for COVID-19 testing the same day, with the result returning positive at a general hospital in Ninh Binh on Saturday.

The patient is isolated for treatment at a medical clinic in the province’s Hoa Lu District

Patient 1,136 is a 32-year-old French expert who entered Vietnam for work in Ho Chi Minh City.

She touched down at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in the city from Dubai aboard flight EK392 on Saturday. She was quarantined upon arrival.

The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control diagnosed her with COVID-19 on Sunday. She is being treated at a makeshift hospital in Cu Chi District.

The other four patients tested positive on Sunday at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi.

They had landed at Van Don International Airport on board flight VN5062 on Friday last week. They were quarantined at a military center in northern Nam Dinh Province upon entry.

They are isolated for treatment at a general hospital in Nam Dinh.

Vietnam has detected 1,140 coronavirus patients since January 23, when the virus first hit the Southeast Asian country, according to the health ministry’s data.

The number of recovered patients has reached 1,046 while 35 pathogen-related deaths have been recorded so far.

Eighteen patients have tested negative one to three times, waiting to be discharged from hospitals.

No community-based infections have been documented in Vietnam for the last 46 days.

Vietnam began denying entry to foreign nationals on March 22 but the government allows foreign experts, skilled workers, investors, and diplomats to enter the country on a case-by-case basis, subject to mandatory quarantine.

Though international commercial flights are now suspended, charter planes to the country have been arranged to bring in experts, skilled workers, and diplomats, and to repatriate Vietnamese citizens stranded in other nations and territories due to the pandemic.

Vietnam currently charges international arrivals for quarantine.

It provided the quarantine service for free in the past.

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