The man has had classic Covid symptoms like fever, throat pain, difficulty breathing and loss of taste, according to the Go Vap medical center. More tests would be needed before the case could be confirmed as a Covid patient.

The alley where he lives on Quang Trung Street, home to more than 40 other families, have been locked down.

The same day, three other people, a 58-year-old restaurant owner in District 3 and her two children, have tested positive for the coronavirus as well.

Authorities are conducting contact tracing efforts for the coronavirus-positive cases. A medical center in District 10 has stopped receiving patients due to being associated with recent coronavirus cases.

Nguyen Tri Dung, director of the HCMC Center for Disease Control (CDC), has called on people to strictly adhere by prevention measures like wearing masks and keeping distances as anyone in the community could be a coronavirus case.

"You cannot know whether someone you made contact with had the virus or not if the symptoms don't show," he said.

HCMC earlier confirmed three Covid-19 patients in Vietnam's latest coronavirus wave, including two colleagues at a company in District 3 who were confirmed this week.

The city has not established any link between these colleagues with the suspected cases that emerged on Thursday.