A new COVID-19 cluster in Phu Quoc City off the southern Vietnamese province of Kien Giang has spread to five out of its nine wards and communes as local authorities confirmed more infections on Thursday.

A quick report of the city’s medical center recorded a total of 69 COVID-19 cases in An Thoi Ward, Duong Dong Ward, and Ham Ninh Commune, all of whom had undergone real-time RT-PCR tests.

Of the figure, 63 coronavirus infections were discovered in An Thoi Ward, which has been a hotbed of transmissions in Phu Quoc after the first case was detected on Monday.

The local rapid antigen testing drive also led to the discovery of new confirmed and suspected cases in other wards and communes.

In Ham Ninh Commune, five out of 257 samples had positive results, with the real-time RT-PCR test results later confirming their infections.

In Duong Dong Ward, one case tested positive for the virus via the rapid test, but had a negative real-time RT-PCR test result later.

In Bai Thom and Cua Duong Communes, two other suspected cases are awaiting real-time RT-PCR test results.

With the new infections found on Thursday, the new outbreak, which is the first to have emerged in the island city since the pandemic occurred in Vietnam early last year, seems to have spread to five out of its nine wards and communes and possibly wider, a doctor at the Kien Giang Center for Disease Control commented.

In addition to the mass testing drive, Phu Quoc authorities have allocated a land lot to build a 1,000-bed COVID-19 field hospital in Cua Can Commune, according to Nguyen Thanh Nhan, deputy chairman of Kien Giang Province.

The city’s health system is capable of treating about 150 COVID-19 inpatients and quarantining about 500 direct contacts in centralized isolation facilities.

Currently, 266 people that came into direct contact with coronavirus patients are being isolated at two local centralized quarantine facilities.

Kien Giang Province has recorded 4,874 local infections since a new virus wave hit Vietnam on April 27.

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