All eight people who had direct contact with a border jumper in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap have tested negative for the novel coronavirus once.

Test results for the eight direct contacts of patient No. 1,452 have come back negative, Doan Tan Buu, vice-chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, confirmed on Wednesday morning.

The individuals still need to complete their 14-day quarantine period at a medical center in Hong Ngu District.

Those who had contact with these eight people have been required to undergo home quarantine.

Patient No. 1,452, a 31-year-old woman in Lai Vung District, Dong Thap, left Myanmar with five others on December 15 and arrived in Thailand one day later, according to the Ministry of Health.

On December 23, they came to Cambodia and headed to Vietnam.

After reaching the Vietnamese territory, they hired a seven-seater car to illegally cross the Vietnam-Cambodia border to get to Ho Chi Minh City on Christmas Eve.

Two of the six left the group to go to the Mekong Delta the same day while the rest stayed in the city.

Four out of these six border jumpers have been confirmed as patients No. 1,440, 1,451, 1,452, and 1,453, two of whom reside in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Dong Thap, and one in Vinh Long Province in the Mekong Delta.

The other two have tested negative for the novel coronavirus once.

The administration in Lai Vung District has ordered local residents and organizations to stop events and gatherings of large crowds until further notice.

Security along the Vietnamese border has been tightened over the past days to prevent illegal entries and reduce risks of COVID-19 transmission from border jumpers.

The Southeast Asian country has documented 1,454 COVID-19 cases, with 1,319 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to ministry of Health statistics.

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