The attendant came into close contact with one of his colleagues during his mandatory quarantine period, with his co-worker later being confirmed to have tested positive for the virus.

Leaving the Vietnam Airlines-registered quarantine facility to undergo a period of self-quarantine at home after five days, the attendant went on to meet a number of relatives and friends, including a Vietnamese English language teacher who became the country’s latest locally transmitted COVID-19 case.

The Ministry of Health confirmed the detection of the latest case on November 30.

In an interview given to Zing Newswire on December 1, Dr. Khanh stated that unrestricted quarantine regulations are largely to blame for the newly-detected case, and a fresh community outbreak is likely if more people are infected with the virus.

Upon clusters of infections being found, the solution requires both the health sector and the community to work harder in order to eradicate the outbreak, Dr. Khanh emphasised.

According to the doctor, the management of hotels and other private lodging houses that have registered as quarantine facilities is not tight enough to be considered reliable health facilities. In addition, staff working at these quarantine facilities are not professional, despite attending training courses to prepare them for the task.

All suspected cases therefore must be considered as potentially having the virus and therefore they must be closely monitored, Dr. Khanh recommended.    

A representative of Vietnam Airlines admitted the latest case was the attendant’s fault, adding that he had violated existing quarantine regulations by contacting his relatives and friends, ultimately resulting in transmitting the virus to one of his associates.

The Ministry of Health on November 30 asked Vietnam Airlines to strictly abide by quarantine regulations at its two venues in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, in order to avoid virus infections occurring within the quarantine facilities. 

The Ministry also proposed that local administrations should closely monitor those placed into quarantine at home.