The patient flew to Malaysia on February 27 and returned to Vietnam on flight VJ826 landing March 4 at the Tan Son Nhat Airport. He was accompanied by a 42-year-old Ninh Thuan native, who was confirmed infected on Monday.

Samples of the new patient were tested by the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang. He has been quarantined and is being treated at the Ninh Thuan General Hospital.

Both Malaysia returnees are residents of Thuan Nam District in the south central province. They had attended an Islamic event in Malaysia that gathered more than 16,000 people. Authorities have made an urgent announcement to look for people who attended the event after hundreds of participants in Malaysia have contracted the novel coronavirus.

Malaysia is the worst-hit country by the Covid-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia, with 673 infections and two deaths.

The Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang has received samples from 16 other people who’d come into close contact with the infected people in Ninh Thuan.

51 of the nation’s 67 Covid-19 infections have been detected since March 6, prior to which the nation had gone 22 days without a new case. The previous 16 patients have been discharged from hospitals.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 165 countries and territories, claiming nearly 8,000 lives.