Da Nang outbreak adds four more cases

"Patient 984," the 45-year-old Taiwan returnee, came back to Vietnam on August 7, landing at the Cam Ranh International Airport in central Khanh Hoa Province. He tested positive at a quarantine camp.

Patients 985-988 are residents of Da Nang, the outbreak epicenter in Vietnam at the moment.

Patient 989 is a 35-year-old man repatriated from Equatorial Guinea last month.

Community transmission of Covid-19 resurfaced in Vietnam on July 25 in Da Nang after more than three months.

Since then, 509 locally transmitted cases have been confirmed, including 354 in Da Nang and 94 in neighboring Quang Nam Province.

Acting Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said at a meeting Tuesday that "the outbreak in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province is under control."

He said all methods, including aggressive contact tracing and isolation, have proven effective, and that the number of community infections recorded each day from the outbreak is declining.

On Tuesday, Vietnam declared 59 people Covid-19 free, 19 of them Vietnamese repatriates and the rest recorded locally in Da Nang, Quang Nam and Hue.

Vietnam has reported 989 Covid-19 infections in total, including 520 recoveries and 444 active cases. The nation has lost 25 people to the pandemic, including one Tuesday morning.

More than 22 million have been infected worldwide and recorded deaths have crossed 778,100.