The latest COVID-19 patient in Hanoi had visited a café in the Bui Vien area in Ho Chi Minh City when he tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the capital’s Center for Disease Control said in a report on Tuesday night.

The patient, 45-year-old N.A.S., is a notary who came into close contact with an infected patient at Notary Office No. 3 at 6 Duy Tan Street, Dich Vong Hau Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi on January 27, according to the center’s epidemiological investigation.

He tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

His test result was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday morning.

Twenty-two people have been identified as his direct contacts at Notary Office No. 3, all of whom have tested negative once.

S. took a Vietnam Airlines flight to Ho Chi Minh City at 6:30 am on January 29, he recounted in the epidemiological investigation.

The man sat in a café in the Bui Vien area in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City from 9:00 am to 10:00 am but he claimed he could not remember its address.

Bui Vien is a busy neighborhood where many foreigners lived before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Very few foreigners frequent it now as Vietnam has closed its borders to foreign visitors since March last year, only allowing entry to certain people like international experts and diplomats.

The patient visited relatives at 5/20 on Truong Son Street in Tan Binh District at 11:00 am and stayed at theirs’ for 30 minutes, before walking to nearby Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

He arrived in Hanoi at 9:00 pm on board a Bamboo Airways flight.

He had also come into contact with multiple people in Hanoi, which has recorded 21 local infections since last week, prior to his diagnosis.

Vietnam has documented 1,891 coronavirus cases, including 1,003 domestic infections, as of Wednesday morning, with 1,461 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country confirmed the first two local cases on January 28 after having gone nearly two months without any community-based infection.

A total of 310 domestic infections have been logged in ten provinces and cities, since then, according to the health ministry’s data.

The majority of the domestically-transmitted cases were linked to Hai Duong and Quang Ninh, both located in northern Vietnam.

The country announced 84 local transmissions on Thursday, 62 on Friday, 61 on Saturday, 31 on Sunday, 32 on Monday, 31 on Tuesday, and nine on Wednesday morning.

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