The Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control is organizing an emergency online meeting after the city’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (HCDC) on Monday morning reported 24 people being positive with COVID-19 at first test.

All were transferred to quarantined zones, and HCDC is tracking down for people who had contact with them.

Several locations in the city have also been blockaded, with chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong requesting a strict control over the locked down areas to make sure people will not enter or exit.

Local authorities are conducting blockade at Ho Chi Minh City’s Ma Lang neighborhood in District 1’s Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward on the night of February 7, 2021. Photo: Dan Thuan / Tuoi Tre

The Minsitry of Health is very concerned as the source of the infection cluster in Ho Chi Minh City has not been determined yet, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said at the meeting.

The 24 positive cases were reported after city the announced four new cases of locally-transmitted COVID-19 with all being staff members at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport the same morning.

Currently, the number of people in contact with infected cases in Binh Thanh District has mounted to 303.

However, there have been reported cases in which direct contacts of patient No.1,979, a baggage handler at Tan Son Nhat Airport, were tested negative for the coronavirus but results of some indrect contacts came back postive.

HCDC is working with the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City to conduct antibody tests to determine the infectious nature of those cases.

HCDC director Nguyen Tri Dung at the meeting mentioned the possibility that the positive cases are those having recovered from the disease previously.

“Ho Chi Minh City needs to act quickly and urgently as we have done, but more seriously,” Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long stated, expressing his concern over the spread of the virus from patient No.1,979 and his team members to the community.

The minster also requested the city to quickly zone the areas with infection cases as well as test all cases related.

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