The three patients were quarantined upon landing in Khanh Hoa Province, located in south-central Vietnam, the ministry said.
Patient No. 1,208 is a 38-year-old Indian expert who flew from India and transited Myanmar before entering Vietnam on board flight 8M202 via Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa on October 20.
He was sent to a quarantine facility in Nha Trang, the capital city of Khanh Hoa, upon entry.
He tested negative for COVID-19 on October 23. The Indian expert’s sample was taken again on Wednesday and his test returned positive at the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang one day later.
The patient is being isolated for treatment at the Khanh Hoa Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
The other two patients are Vietnamese who touched down at the Cam Ranh airport from Japan aboard flight VJ8650 on Tuesday.
Both were taken to a quarantine place in Nha Trang upon landing.
They were sampled for testing on Wednesday and the tests came back positive at the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang on Thursday.
The patients are treated at the Khanh Hoa Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
Vietnam has confirmed 1,210 coronavirus cases as of Friday morning, with 1,069 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths.
The country has detected no community transmission for 65 days in a row.
Vietnam began denying entry to foreign nationals on March 22 but the government allows foreign experts, skilled workers, investors, and diplomats to enter the country on a case-by-case basis, subject to mandatory quarantine.
Though international commercial flights are now suspended, charter planes to the country have been arranged to bring in experts, skilled workers, and diplomats, and to repatriate Vietnamese citizens stranded in other nations and territories due to the pandemic.
Vietnam currently charges international arrivals for quarantine.
It provided the quarantine service for free in the past.
This article was originally published in Tuoitrenews
