Health officials visit two patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus
at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, January 23, 2020. Photo by VnExpress. 

The Ministry of Health confirmed Thursday that three Vietnamese nationals have tested positive for the new pneumonia virus that’s killed 170 people in China. 

One patient is being treated at Thanh Hoa General Hospital in the eponymous north central province and the others at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. All three of them had returned recently from China’s Wuhan City, the epicenter of the epidemic, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said.

Two different methods were used to test biological samples from the three people, and the results were positive for the new coronavirus (nCoV), he said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Vietnam has recorded five cases of individuals infected with the new coronavirus. Two Chinese nationals were confirmed on January 23 as Vietnam's first cases of nCoV infection.

Li Zichao, 28, one of the two Chinese nationals, a father and son duo, had recovered by Tuesday morning, But his father remains on a ventilator, doctors at Cho Ray Hospital in HCMC said Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that an animal appears most likely to be the primary source of the virus. China says the virus could have come from a market in Wuhan where wildlife was traded illegally.

The virus has spread from mainland China to Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, the U.S., South Korea, France, Germany, Canada, Vietnam, UAE, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines.

Chinese authorities say 170 people had died of the disease as of Thursday morning. The number of confirmed infections has topped 7,819.

The Vietnamese government has deployed various measures to combat the virus, including keeping out tourists from China’s epidemic-hit areas and quarantining Chinese workers returning to Vietnam after Tet.

As of Thursday, Vietnam had recorded 97 suspected cases with signs of fever and cough, all from affected areas. Of these, 32 are in quarantine pending test results.