A man in Thu Duc City's Hiep Binh Chanh Ward in HCMC has his sample taken
for the new coronavirus test, February 1, 2021. Photo by Thu Duc medical center. 

With the latest Covid-19 outbreak developing in complicated fashion, HCMC has taken the big step of testing everyone in certain high density residential areas. 

The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control and Prevention (HCDC) has been taking samples of people living in districts 7, 12, Go Vap, Binh Tan, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh and Nha Be as also Thu Duc, a new city that has just been established by merging the former districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc.

As of Wednesday evening, medical centers in these areas had collected 1,441 samples and sent them to the lab for testing. The results have shown 853 are negative. The rest is pending.

Since infections via community transmission returned to Vietnam on January 28 after 55 clean days, HCMC has had 818 people reporting their return from Covid-19 clusters.

So far, the city has only recorded one case even as infections from the clusters have spread to 10 localities, rising to 366 as of Thursday morning.

The patient in HCMC, tagged "1660," is a resident who was visiting his hometown in the northern Hai Duong Province, epicenter of the current outbreak. He has been infected with the U.K. variant of the virus, which is said to be far more contagious and dangerous.

Nineteen people who'd come into contact with the patient in the city have tested negative, as have 129 of 139 passengers flying with him to the city. The remaining 10 passengers are still awaiting test results.

Regarding "patient 1883," a Hanoi man who was confirmed positive after having visited HCMC on January 29, the southern city has tracked down 37 people who had close contact with him, including 27 passengers on the flight from Hanoi. Of them, 26 have tested negative and one is still awaiting test results.

HCMC has also traced down all people who'd come in contact with confirmed infectees in the neighboring province of Binh Duong Province. So far all tested samples have been negative.

Vietnam has so far recorded 1,948 Covid-19 cases of which 449 are active.