Vietnam on Thursday morning confirmed nine more people positive with SARS-CoV-2, all linked to the beach city of Danang where the first locally-transmitted case was detected in months.

Temperature screening at a checkpoint in Quang Nam on July 29. Photo: VnExpress

Among the latest cases, a 76-year-old man is from Hanoi. He spent some weeks in Danang and got a checkup for a heart problem at Danang C Hospital on July 21. He returned to Hanoi on July 25 and was taken sample four days later.

The latest nine cases, including eight in Danang and one in Hanoi, have lifted the number of local infections over the past six days to 43, including 34 in Danang, three in Quang Nam, two in Hanoi, two in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Quang Ngai, and one in Dak Lak.

The newest cases drive the caseload in the country to 459 as of July 30, according to an update by the Ministry of Health. Of the tally, 276 are from abroad.

Of the total infections in Vietnam, 369 have recovered, making up 80.39% of the tally.

Vietnam is the most populous country that has so far reported no deaths related to Covid-19.

The country had gone 99 days before the novel coronavirus was detected in the community on July 24.

Localities where the virus is found have immediately taken actions including quarantining, contact tracing, testing, and isolation of suspected people and affected areas.

Currently, more than 81,500 people are under quarantine, including 472 at hospitals, 14,213 in concentrated centers, and the remaining 66,861 are at home and lodging facilities.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control, said all protective measures must be systematically taken with the participation of different forces and the whole society, not only the health sector. From border gates to screening suspected people, offering checkup, testing, and quarantining, if something goes wrong, the whole system might be collapse and cause serious consequences, he warned at a meeting on July 28.