A lane on Nguyen Khanh Toan Street in Cau Giay District has been locked down since Thursday after a local man was confirmed as Covid-19 patient.
According to the ministry's report, the new cases which are all locally transmitted include four in Hai Duong, two in Quang Ninh, and one each in Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, and Hanoi.
As of Friday morning, Hai Duong has become a Covid-19 hotspot with a total of 76 cases recorded in just two days. Quang Ninh has 12 cases while Hanoi, Bac Ninh, and Hai Phong have all confirmed their first case.
Mass Covid-19 testing is carried out in Hai Duong Province on January 28
Luong Ngoc Khue from the Health Ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment said that all these locally-infected Covid-19 cases in Vietnam are related to the new and highly transmissible coronavirus strain, which has caused the country’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak so far.
"The patients have been hit by a new and more contagious variant of SARS-CoV-2 which has the incubation period of just 2-3 days against around four days of the previous strain," he said, noting that within a short time, many staff from Poyun Ltd. Co. where a previously-confirmed patient works at have been infected by the virus.
With these new infection cases, the number of Covid-19 patients in Vietnam has increased to1,651.
As of 6 am on January 29, a total of 1,430 Covid-19 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospital. There have been 35 deaths, most of them being the elderly with serious underlying diseases.
At present, 21,345 people who had close contact with Covid-19 patients or returned from virus-hit areas are being monitored at hospitals, quarantine facilities, and at home.