As many 235 people have been put in quarantine after having close contact with two new COVID-19 patients, including the first case detected in the community after nearly three months in Vietnam.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said on Monday night that local medical authorities sampled and quarantined a total of 235 people for their connection to patients 1,342 and 1,347.

Among the quarantined, 157 people are being monitored at centralized COVID-19 quarantine facilities, and 72 others are under self-isolation at home.

Patient 1,342 is a 28-year-old Vietnamese man, who works as a flight attendant for Vietnam Airlines, and patient 1,347 is a male Vietnamese friend of patient 1,342, born in 1988, and working as an English language teacher.

Both the new patients are being treated at a field hospital for COVID-19 treatment in the city’s Cu Chi District.

All 36 people who had direct and indirect interaction with patient 1,342, apart from patient 1,347, tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

The Vietnam Airlines-operated quarantine facility at 115 Hong Ha Street, Ward 2, Tan Binh District where the flight attendant came into contact with his colleague, patient 1,325, when he was staying there from November 14 to 18 has been suspended for disinfection.

Vietnam Airlines cabin crews are now being quarantined at the field hospital in Cu Chi instead.

Patient 1,347 taught at two facilities of KEY English Center at 59 Nguyen Ba Tuyen Street, Ward 12, Tan Binh District and 285/24 Cach Mang Thang Tam Street, Ward 12, District 10.

He visited the Highlands Coffee shop in Van Hanh Mall on Su Van Hanh Street in District 10 and the ICOOL karaoke parlor at 120 Thanh Thai Street in the same district from November 18 to 25.

All of these places have been shut down for disinfection.

The two patients’ residences at P305, 3rd Floor, 50 Bach Dang Street, Ward 2, Tan Binh District and in Ward 3, District 6 were also disinfected.

The municipal health department is continuing contact tracing and calling for people who came to the aforementioned locations in the same time frames as the patients to reach the nearest medical establishments for guidance on health monitoring and to have their health checked.

Vietnam has confirmed 1,347 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday afternoon, with 1,179 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths.

The latest domestic infection, patient 1,347, was recorded as the country had spent 88 days detecting no local transmission.

The Southeast Asian country 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 Vietnam 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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