The Chinese people had avoided making the mandated medical declaration as well as the 14-day quarantine.

Police officers and militia members placed barricades and checkpoints around the Hoa Binh Hotel in Bai Chay Ward Saturday after discovering the illegal Chinese nationals there.

On Sunday morning, Nguyen Ngoc Son, vice chairman of Ha Long Town, said the first test results of the Chinese nationals returned negative for the novel coronavirus.

Authorities will quarantine them at another location for 14 days before allowing the hotel to reopen. They are also assessing the culpability of the hotel for follow up action.

On Friday, border guards found a wooden boat carrying eight Vietnamese nationals at the province's Hon Gai Port. All eight are crew members of the Hai Phuong Sun ship who’d illegally re-entered the country from Macau without making medical declarations or undergoing the mandated 14-day quarantine.

They had planned to go from the port to Ha Long Town. They have been taken to a centralized quarantine facility.

Under the current Vietnamese law, those who do not undergo the needed quarantine can be fined by up to VND10 million ($433). In addition, depending on the severity and consequences of their actions, individuals fleeing mandated isolation may be subject to criminal prosecution.

A rising number of illegal entrants are exposing Vietnam to higher risks of community transmission of the novel coronavirus, officials say. So far this year, over 20,000 people have illegally entered the country.

Vietnam has recorded 1,366 Covid-19 patients so far, including a 54-year-old Libyan man confirmed Sunday evening.