Vietnam’s Ministry of Health announced 18 locally-transmitted cases, including 14 at a hospital, on Wednesday.

The 14 patients include one medical worker, four caretakers, and nine patients treated for other illnesses at the Dong Anh District branch of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, the health ministry elaborated.

The institution is a central-level hospital that tends to COVID-19 patients. It has been locked down following the detection of the contagion.

Another domestic case was logged in the capital city as well.

Each of the other three infections was registered in Quang Nam Province, Dong Nai Province, and Hai Duong Province.

The health ministry also confirmed eight cases imported from Poland, Cambodia, Japan, the Philippines, and Russia on Wednesday.

All of them had been quarantined since arrival in Vietnam by plane or ship.

Vietnam has logged 3,022 coronavirus patients, including 1,626 local cases, since the virus first struck the country on January 23, 2020, according to the health ministry’s data.

Recoveries have numbered 2,560, while 35 patients have died, most suffering critical underlying conditions.

Fifty-six local infections have been recorded in the country since April 27.

Vietnam is still closing its borders to international arrivals but it takes in foreign experts, diplomats, and Vietnamese repatriates.

All are required to undergo different forms of isolation upon entry.

The health ministry on Wednesday decided to increase centralized quarantine time to 21 days from the previous 14-day period, as there had been cases where people were confirmed as coronavirus patients shortly after leaving isolation centers.

The new regulation is applicable from the same day.

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and other provinces have closed non-essential services such as karaoke parlors, nightclubs, discos, and online game centers to stall the virus.

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