A man received a positive COVID-19 test result on Sunday in Bac Lieu Province, located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, following a medical check-up required by his potential employer.

This is considered a suspected case because the Ministry of Health has yet to register it.

The case in question is T.V.T., 49, who hails from Soc Trang Province, also located in the Mekong Delta, according to a report by the Bac Lieu Center for Disease Control.

T. claimed to have never left his hometown nor had any contact with coronavirus patients or suspected cases in the last 14 days.

On Saturday, T. and six other people traveled on motorbikes to a wind power company in Bac Lieu City, which is the provincial capital, to seek jobs.

The group later went to Bao Anh Diner and have a cup of coffee before contacting a man named Huu from the company.

Huu rented a room next to Bao Anh for the group to take a rest.

At 11:00 am the same day, T. and the other group members had lunch at Ut Suong Rice Point near their room.

Around 2:30 pm, Huu took T.’s group by motorbike to Thanh Vu Medic Bac Lieu Hospital for a COVID-19 test.

The hospital announced on Sunday that T. had tested positive for the virus, using the real-time PCR method.

He is being isolated at Bac Lieu General Hospital.

The Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City is conducting a retest on this case, the Bac Lieu Center for Disease Control said, adding that 30 of his direct contacts will also be tested locally.

Local authorities are tracing his contacts to prevent transmission into the community.

Vietnam’s caseload tally has reached 2,432 as of Sunday morning, with 837 domestic cases reported since January 27, when the country confirmed the first community-based infection after having spent almost two months detecting zero local transmissions, according to the Ministry of Health's data.

Hai Duong Province in the northern region is the largest epicenter with 653 cases.

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