Covid-19 hotspot Hai Duong records six more cases

All the new patients are F1 of previously confirmed cases in the northern province. They had already been isolated following the contact tracing protocol and were tested positive for the novel coronavirus when staying in quarantine camps.

Hai Duong is where one of the first two cases of Vietnam's ongoing outbreak were detected on Jan. 28. The other case was found in its neighbor Quang Ninh Province.

Since then, infections have spread to 13 cities and provinces, rising to 885 by Saturday morning, with Hai Duong accounting for 701 and Quang Ninh 61.

Ten cities and provinces have gone 21 days without recording any new cases, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Also on Saturday morning, the Ministry of Health confirmed a new imported case. He is a South Korean expert, 42, who entered Vietnam on Feb. 19 and was quarantined immediately upon arrival.

The health ministry will have an online meeting with authorities in 63 cities and provinces on Saturday to discuss plans on Covid-19 vaccination. It will announce detailed vaccination plans, guidance on vaccination and how to manage the process using a certain software.

Prioritized groups will be injected with the first batch of 117,600 AstraZeneca vaccines next Monday after quality checks had been passed, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Friday.

Vietnam has registered 2,501 Covid-19 cases so far, and 543 of them are active.