The source of infection of a new COVID-19 family cluster in Ho Chi Minh City came from Da Nang, as one of the patients had previously traveled to the central city, according to Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the former city.

The Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control convened a meeting chaired by chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong on Friday morning.

Phong said that local authorities had been able to identify the infection source of a COVID-19 family cluster which was detected on Thursday.

The cluster includes a 58-year-old woman who sells noodle soup down the alley at 287 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in District 3 and her two children.

The vendor first tested positive for the novel coronavirus at Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital in District 5 on Wednesday, after visiting Medic Medical Center in District 10 on account of respiratory symptoms.

Her retest came back positive at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases on Thursday morning.

Her two children also tested positive for the virus later the same day.

The three family members were confirmed as COVID-19 patients by the Ministry of Health on Thursday evening.

Epidemiological investigation eventually revealed that one of the woman’s two children had visited Da Nang, a beach city in central Vietnam, during the holiday marking Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers’ Day (May 1) and returned to Ho Chi Minh City on May 3.

The child likely got infected with COVID-19 in Da Nang and spread the disease to the mother and the other sibling, Phong hinted at the meeting.

More than 1,860 people who had contact with the three patients have tested negative for the novel coronavirus so far.

Aside from this family cluster, a 63-year-old man in Go Vap District also tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, but he has yet to be confirmed by the health ministry.

His second test is being conducted by the city’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

His 32 direct contacts have been tracked down and tested negative.

Chairman Phong required the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control to promptly determine the infection source of this suspected case.

Earlier this week, two employees working at a company in District 3 were also confirmed as COVID-19 patients.

Their infection source came from the northern city of Hai Phong, health authorities said, citing their analysis of clinical signs, epidemiological investigation, and test results.

Ho Chi Minh City has detected six local COVID-19 infections while Da Nang has reported 147 cases since the fourth transmission wave hit Vietnam on April 27, statistics showed.

A total of 1,836 domestic infections have been recorded in 30 provinces and cities during the current wave, according to the Ministry of Health’s data.

As of Friday afternoon, Vietnam had registered 4,883 virus cases, with 2,689 recoveries and 40 deaths.

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