Eight Vietnamese were confirmed positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, raising the national caseload to 2,865, according to the Ministry of Health. 

The latest patients, aged between 24 and 31, were repatriated from Japan from April 11-24 on four different VietJetAir flights.

As many as 38,520 people are placed under quarantine and medical surveillance nationwide, including 523 at hospitals, 23,189 at concentrated quarantine sites.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on authorities and individuals to sustain vigilance and uphold the sense of responsibility as the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving complicatedly around the world as evidenced by rising number of new infection cases and fatalities in many countries, including those to Southwest of Viet Nam.

He called on people to seriously implement the 5K (in Vietnamese) message, especially mask wearing, while agencies, units and organizations must strictly abide by the regulations on COVID-19 safety protocols, regularly self-assess pandemic prevention and control requirements and measures and update self-assessment results on the anti-pandemic map system. 

The Government chief ordered the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security, provincial-level People’s Committees, and relevant ministries and agencies to strengthen supervision and inspection of the observation of the protocols on mandatory quarantine at concentrated sites and designated accommodations, as well as medical surveillance.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health was tasked to be more proactive in international cooperation to expand access to COVID-19 vaccine sources and quick test technologies while creating more favorable conditions for domestic vaccine manufacturing./.