An Indian expert has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) after finishing his quarantine period and returning to his apartment in Hanoi.

The 37-year-old foreigner works for VinFast Company, a domestic automaker under Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (Hanoi CDC) confirmed on Tuesday morning.

He arrived in the Southeast Asian country on April 17 and was quarantined at Canh Hung Hotel in the northern city of Hai Phong upon entry.

The expert tested negative for the novel coronavirus on April 14 and April 30, according to reports from the Hai Phong Center for Disease Control.

He left the quarantine hotel on May 1 and took a taxi to Apartment 12B at Park 10 Building within the Times City Urban Area in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi.

The Indian national lives with his wife and their two children at the apartment.

He signed up for another COVID-19 test at Vinmec Hospital on May 3 and the result came back positive for the novel coronavirus on the same day.

His sample was then transferred to the Hanoi CDC and the result also returned positive early on Tuesday morning.

His wife and children are in normal health and have had their samples collected for COVID-19 testing.

As the children are only one and three years old, the three family members are being quarantined at their home.

Three other direct contacts of the Indian expert, who live in the same building, have been brought to a quarantine facility.

More than 40 people who live on the same floor have also been tested for COVID-19.

The Park 10 Building with approximately 1,500 residents is now under temporary lockdown.

His taxi driver is being quarantined in Hai Phong City.

Since April 29, three people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus after completing their quarantine period in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Health has required all people to remain at their current quarantine facilities even if they have finished their 14-day quarantine period.

Vietnam has documented 2,985 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, with 2,560 recoveries and 35 deaths.

Thirty-seven domestic cases have been recorded since April 27 after the country had gone about a month without detecting any community transmission.

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