The nation's tally for Covid-19 cases hit 241 on Sunday night, but Monday arrived without any new patients testing positive since the previous evening.
After daily upticks in the number of infected individuals, Monday, April 6 arrived with some good news on the heels of only four new reported cases over the weekend. The total count for Vietnam stands at 241, 91 of whom have been discharged after testing negative several times.
Many of the remaining cases are Vietnamese nationals returning from abroad who were placed in quarantine. More than 60 cases are also related to the Bach Mai Hospital cluster in Hanoi and the Buddha Bar & Grill cluster in Ho Chi Minh City, both Vietnam's biggest single sources of the infection.
Over the weekend, Vietnam recorded four new cases. On Saturday, a 17-year-old girl from Ha Tinh and a 29-year-old woman from Bac Giang Province, who had returned from Thailand, were confirmed to have the novel coronavirus. Another case related to Bach Mai Hospital was also recorded.
On Sunday, a Vietnamese national studying in the UK, who had returned to Vietnam on March 22 aboard flight VN0050, became Vietnam's Case 241. He was placed in quarantine upon landing in Can Tho. He originally tested negative for the virus, but subsequently registered a positive test result and has been transferred to Bac Lieu General Hospital for treatment.
Previously, Vietnam had gone 19 days with no new infections until a woman returning from Europe tested positive on March 6. Since then, the country has announced new cases every day, peaking at 19 on March 22.
On April 1, the country entered a 15-day period of heightened social distancing. Citizens are urged to only leave their homes for essential tasks, including buying groceries or medicine. Masks are now required in public places and transportation has been greatly reduced.
[Photo by Nam Tran via MSN]
