The Ministry of Health said late March 12 that five more people had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country so far to 44.

A medical workers is spraying a residential area in Binh Thuan province with disinfectant. (Photo: VNA)

The new patients are among the 56 people whose samples were sent to the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute in the central province of Khanh Hoa on March 12, as they had close contact with Covid-19 patients detected in central Binh Thuan province on March 10-11, according to the ministry.

Among the five new cases, a two-year-old girl, a 59-year-old man and a 28-year-old man, all live in Binh Thuan’s Phan Thiet city, had close contact with the 34^th patient - a 51-year-old Vietnamese woman who tested positive on March 10.

The two others are a 47-year-old woman in Phan Thiet city, who had close contact with the 38^th patient, and a 13-year-old boy in Ham Thuan Bac district, Binh Thuan province, who had contact with the 37^th patient.

Of the 44 cases reported in Viet Nam so far, 16 had made complete recovery.

Source: VNA