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Earlier the same day, 105 new patients were announced in the ministry's morning and noon reports.
According to the ministry's evening report, all of the 48 newly-confirmed patients are locally-transmitted cases who were detected in quarantine sites or areas under lockdown in some northern provinces, including 33 in Bac Giang, 13 in Bac Ninh, and one each in Dien Bien and Thai Binh.
The 33 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 decided to temporarily close these four industrial parks since Tuesday morning for Covid-19 prevention and control.
As of Tuesday evening, 1,472 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 4,512, including 3,042 locally-transmitted cases.
As of 6 pm on May 18, a total of 2,687 Covid-19 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospital.
So far there have been 37 deaths, most of them being the elderly with serious underlying diseases.
At present, over 122, 640 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.
