A man of the Republic of Korea who found dead at Goldmark City in Hanoi on February 17 has tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Hanoi Centre for Disease Control has confirmed. 

Relevant forces have carried the victim's body out of the block of apartments.

The 47-year-old man, a civil engineering expert, was found dead in his apartment by his colleagues who dropped in for a lunar New Year visit.

He is the director of a civil engineering company in Hanoi capital’s outlying district of Bac Tu Liem. He arrived in Vietnam in 2014 and has been since working here.

He was said to live alone in the apartment of Goldmark City, an apartment complex in the west of the capital city.

Local police cordoned off the complex, enabling healthcare workers to come and field an investigation.

Initial investigations show the man might have committed suicide. Investigators found a suicide note in his apartment.  

Earlier on February 15 a Japanese expert was also found dead in his hotel room in Hanoi’s Tay Ho district. The man was later confirmed by doctors as a SARS-CoV-2 carrier.

Hanoi has recorded 34 locally-transmitted coronavirus cases since the virus recurred in Vietnam three weeks ago.

The local administration has adopted a host of drastic measures, including banning non-essential services, to prevent the spread of the virus in the community.

The fresh outbreak has basically been brought under control in the capital city, said the Ministry of Health.

Elsewhere, the virus has spread to 12 other cities and provinces across the country, with Hai Duong province, a gateway to Hanoi capital, emerging as the biggest coronavirus hotspot, registering 557 out of 737 cases.