Vietnam confirmed 82 more local coronavirus infections at noon on Thursday, taking the day’s count to 84, which is the largest daily rise since the virus hit the Southeast Asian country in January last year.

The Ministry of Health had announced two domestic transmissions on Thursday morning, the first local cases since December 2.

Hai Duong Province, located in northern Vietnam, registered 73 of the patients, while Quang Ninh – another northern province – logged the rest.

All of the new patients were in direct contact with patients 1,552 and 1,553, both recorded on Thursday morning.

Patient 1,552 is a 34-year-old Vietnamese woman working for Vietnam Poyun Electronics Co. Ltd. in Hai Duong.

She had come into contact with a woman who left Vietnam for Japan on January 17.

That woman tested positive in Japan on Tuesday for the new variant, 70 percent more transmissible, that has raged in the UK recently.

Patient 1,552 was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday evening.

She is being treated at the Dong Anh District branch of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

The other patient is a 31-year-old Vietnamese employee at Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh.

He had a fever, dry cough, and sore throat so he went to the hospital for a check-up.

The man was tested for the novel coronavirus and the result returned positive at the Quang Ninh Center for Disease Control on Wednesday evening.

He is isolated for treatment at the Dong Anh District branch of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the Vietnamese capital.

Vietnam has documented 1,635 coronavirus patients as of Thursday afternoon, with 1,430 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country detected the first COVID-19 patient on January 23, 2020.

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