Officials in Ly Son Island District in Vietnam’s central Quang Ngai Province announced on Sunday evening the detection of its first-ever COVID-19 case in the community, a 14-year-old student who had come into direct contact with a returnee from Ho Chi Minh City.

The patient, who is a ninth grader, made interaction with the infected returnee on October 16, who had been confirmed to contract COVID-19 while in quarantine at home.

Sixty-six other people also interacted in person with that returnee.

Authorities of Ly Son Island District have locked down Tay Village in An Hai Commune, where the ninth grader lives, to facilitate contact tracing while requesting people to follow social distancing guidelines by the Ministry of Health.

Elementary, middle, and high schools have switched to remote learning while kindergartens have been suspended.

Functional forces require people coming from Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities to Ly Son to undergo medical isolation in mainland Quang Ngai before boarding high-speed boats to the island, instead of simply presenting a negative COVID-19 test certificate issued within less than 72 hours. 

Ly Son is a famous tourist island located 15 nautical miles (28 kilometers) offshore Quang Ngai. 

For the past two years, the island’s tourism, which spearheads the local economy, has stalled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Since the fourth outbreak erupted in Vietnam on April 27 and has caused a total of 916,286 cases nationwide, including 820,334 recoveries and 22,083 deaths, Ly Son has closed completely to visitors from outside Quang Ngai.

From June 26 to now, Quang Ngai has recorded 1,609 local COVID-19 cases and is classified as a medium-risk locality, according to criteria set out by the Ministry of Health, news site VnExpress reported. 

Ly Son Island was considered a safe zone in the province before the detection of its first-ever infection.

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