Man in HCM City is 4th COVID-positive in case of illegal entry

HCM CITY — A man in HCM City’s District  九 was confirmed this afternoon to be positive for COVID- 一 九, the fourth among the group of six Vietnamese nationals sneaking into the country via the border on December  二 四.

This morning, a woman from Đồng Tháp Province who used to work in Cambodia, was , after two others tested positive on December  二 六 and December  二 八, respectively.

District  九’s authorities are locking down the man’s copper workshop and residence.

Since entering Việt Nam, the man – whose name was given as K. – had close contact with  一 六 people –  一 五 being the owner and workers at the workshop and the owner of the boarding houses where he lived.

So far, the first COVID- 一 九 tests for these  一 六 people have all come back negative, according to HCM City's CDC.

K. said he used to work at the workshop in HCM City but since there was not much work he went to Myanmar, but the job there was also disappointing so he sought ways to return to Việt Nam.

Only on Monday did the authorities know about the identity of K., the last member of the group of six, after the workshop owner notified local authorities.

His close contacts were placed under quarantine i妹妹ediately on Monday night even though K.'s COVID- 一 九 status had not been determined.

K. said he didn't use his cellphone since returning to Việt Nam and didn't know authorities were investigating all close contacts of the confirmed COVID- 一 九 cases on the same ride from the border.

The six Vietnamese in question reportedly met at an entry point to Việt Nam near An Giang Province in the southern region, and then hired a seven-seat car to go back to their hometown in HCM City, Đồng Tháp and Vĩnh Long provinces.

The driver tested negative for the virus on his first test. — VNS