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Earlier the same day, 74 new patients were announced in the ministry's morning and noon reports.
According to the ministry's evening report, 40 out of the 45 newly-confirmed patients are locally-transmitted cases most of whom were detected in quarantine sites or areas under lockdown in some northern provinces, including 24 in Bac Giang, 10 in Bac Ninh, three in Ho Chi Minh City, and one each in Lang Son, Hai Duong, and Vinh Phuc.
The 24 cases in Bac Giang were recorded at some industrial parks of Van Trung, Dinh Tram, Song Khe-Noi Hoang, and Quang Chau which have reported a large outbreak over the last few days. Local authorities have temporarily closed these four industrial parks for Covid-19 prevention and control.
The five imported patients include four men and a woman aged between 25-37 who recently returned from Malaysia and the Philippines. They were sent to quarantine areas in Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Soc Trang provinces and are now being treated at local hospitals.
As of Thursday evening, 1,761 locally-transmitted cases have been reported since the new outbreak occurred in the country on April 27. The outbreak has so far spread to 28 cities and provinces nationwide.
With these new infection cases, the number of Covid-19 patients in Vietnam has increased to 4,809, including 3,331 locally-transmitted cases.
As of 6 pm on May 19, a total of 2,689 Covid-19 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospital.
So far there have been 39 deaths, most of them being the elderly with serious underlying diseases.
At present, over 121, 000 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.
On May 19, an additional 3,854 people were given Covid-19 vaccine in Vietnam, raising the total number of vaccinated people in the country to 1,015,249 including 28,865 people having received two doses.
