Saigon authorities find church Covid outbreak continues to spread

Last Friday a couple and their child living in Tan Phu District tested positive a day after the cluster at the Revival Ekklesia Mission in Go Vap District came to light.

But authorities found no links between them and the congregation, and became concerned there could be another source of transmission.

But after thorough contact tracing, the city Center for Disease Control (HCDC) said the family’s infection indeed traced back to the church.

The Tan Phu District infections started with a married couple.

The wife, who is 10 weeks pregnant and works at a bank in District 7, developed Covid-19 symptoms on May 23.

The HCDC checked all seven people who had come into close contact with her. One of them is a colleague at the bank who lives with her older sister. The sister also has Covid, and she is linked with ‘patient 6770’, who came into contact with an infected member of the church.

The virus gene sequencing result last Saturday night showed that the couple are infected with the Indian virus strain B.1.167 detected in the church cluster.

The number of infections it has caused since emerging last Wednesday has swelled to 202 in HCMC, Bac Lieu, Binh Duong, Long An, and Tra Vinh provinces in the south Dak Lak in the Central Highlands.

Over a month into the fourth wave, which has become by far the most challenging Vietnam has faced, the country has had 4,357 cases in 36 of its 63 cities and provinces.

HCMC has reported 208 infections so far.

It has ordered social distancing for at least two weeks starting Monday.