A Vietnamese man has been caught clinging onto a foam float to swim from the COVID-19 epicenter of Hai Duong Province to Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam, instead of traveling through control points.

The Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Hai Phong on Monday said that the case was discovered by police in Dai Ban Commune, An Duong District and a task force of Van Tien Village during a patrol session on Sunday.

Accordingly, Truong Van Luan, a 43-year-old man dwelling in Minh Hoa Ward in Kinh Mon Town, Hai Duong, swam with the support of a foam float on the Lach Tray River to enter Van Tien Village in Dai Ban Commune.

When he reached the riverside in Van Tien Village, he was immediately caught and taken to the local medical center for health declaration.

After checking Luan’s personal information and health status, police in Dai Ban Commune booked the case and escorted him to the bordering area between Hai Phong and Hai Duong to return him to the latter province. 

Hai Duong is currently Vietnam’s COVID-19 epicenter with 676 cases having been documented since January 27.

People traveling to and from Hai Duong are requested to make entrance via control points for medical declaration.

Vietnam had gone nearly two months logging zero domestic cases before it detected the first one on January 27 and confirmed it one day later, according to the health ministry’s data.

A total of 868 community-based cases have been confirmed in 13 provinces and cities since then, making it the most serious wave to have struck Vietnam after the first-ever COVID-19 patient was announced in the country on January 23, 2020.

Hai Phong has registered four COVID-19 patients in this new wave.

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