Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) has released preliminary information on COVID-19 cluster at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. 

A health worker collects COVID-19 test samples in Ward 7, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City 

Accordingly, the city identified 35 cases linked to the airport as of Sunday. 

All of them are employees at the airport and their family members, the HCDC said.

Since the first case was reported, the municipal health sector promptly tracked down individuals who had been in close contact with the case and expanded diagnosis scope to comprehensively evaluate the pandemic risks in the city.

Reports from treatment facilities showed that most of the COVID-19 patients have been asymptomatic and none of them are in serious health conditions.

Many patients have tested negative quickly after hospital admission, said the HCDC, adding that it will coordinate with treatment facilities and experts to further collect epidemiological data and genomic sequencing outcomes to have deeper look at these cases.

In another move, the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases coordinated with Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in conducting genomic sequencing on samples of three of the above patients and found A 23.1 strain first seen in Rwanda in October last year.

As of 6:05 am on Sunday, Viet Nam confirmed 2,195 COVID-19 patients, including 604 cases reported in 13 localities since January when the third wave of local transmissions began.

The transmission rate began to fall over the past few days thanks to drastic measures, in which HCMC has recorded zero new cases since February 10./.