HCMC religious mission cluster among Vietnam's 150 new local Covid-19 cases

By Le Nga May 27, 2021 | 05:00 am PT

People walk to a medical site in HCMC's Binh Thanh District for coronavirus tests, May 27, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa.

The Health Ministry confirmed 150 new Covid-19 cases Thursday night, including 36 linked to a HCMC Christian mission cluster that emerged a day earlier.

The other cases were recorded in Bac Giang (84), Bac Ninh (22), Hanoi (seven) and Da Nang (one).

All the cases in Hanoi and 17 cases in Bac Ninh were those who’d come into contact with existing coronavirus cases.

The remaining cases in Bac Ninh, those in Bac Giang and the one in Da Nang are linked to local industrial parks.

The 36 cases in HCMC are associated with a cluster at the Revival Ekklesia Mission, a Christian congregation. The cluster was unearthed Wednesday after three of its members went to the Gia Dinh Hospital in Binh Thanh District with respiratory problems. Tests showed they were positive for the novel coronavirus.

Among the cases are 29 members of the mission, who have been gathering in a small alley in Go Vap District several times this month, while the other seven are those who’d had contact with them.

After the fourth Covid-19 wave broke out in Vietnam a month ago, a total of 3,255 cases have been recorded in 30 cities and provinces. The country recorded 227 cases on Thursday alone.

Bac Giang leads in the number of infections at 1,648, followed by neighbor Bac Ninh at 676.