"Patient 748" is a 54-year-old woman in Sam Son Town of Thanh Hoa Province in the north central region. She had contact with a person who got infected from the outbreak in Da Nang.

As she was isolated, her samples were taken for testing on Wednesday. The result turned out positive the next day.

"Patient 749" is 27. She lives in Vinh Linh District of Quang Tri Province in central Vietnam. She stayed at the Da Nang Hospital to take care of a sick family member from July 17. Four days later, she started developing Covid-19 symptoms of slight fever, sore throat and muscle pain.

"Patient 750" is a 28-year-old man residing in Dong Ha District of Quang Tri. He is a friend of a previous infected case and came into close contact with that case on July 18.

He grew symptoms on July 25. His samples were taken on Wednesday and he was confirmed to have Covid-19 the next day.

With the three latest patients, locally transmitted cases have spread to two more Vietnam provinces, Thanh Hoa and Quang Tri.

Since July 25 when community infections reemerged, 298 domestic cases have been reported.

The epicenter Da Nang got 193 cases. Its neighbor Quang Nam Province got 29 cases, HCMC eight, Hanoi three. Other cities and provinces with community infections are Dak Lak, Quang Ngai, Dong Nai, Thai Binh, Ha Nam, Bac Giang and Lang Son. All cases in other places are linked to Da Nang.

Vietnam has reported 750 cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Of them, 392 have recovered, 10 died and 348 are still in hospitals.

The nation is putting more than 170,000 in quarantine.

Around the world, the pandemic has killed more than 716,300.