Three checkpoints have been erected to restrict entry and exit on Hoang Van Thu and Ngo Si Lien Streets, both in Duc Thang Ward. Around 30 families live in the quarantined area.

On Hoang Van Thu Street, a section with 10 houses has been placed under stringent quarantine conditions. Three people living in this section, two aged 28 and one aged two, all from the same family as Vietnam’s Covid-19 "patient 34," a 51-year-old Vietnamese businesswoman who flew from Washington D.C. to Saigon on March 2, tested positive Thursday for the novel coronavirus.

A similar quarantine has been placed on a section of Ngo Si Lien Street. One resident of this section, aged 47, also a relative of "patient 34," has tested positive for the Covid-19 causing virus.

These areas were being locked down first as they were close where four people got infected, thus have a higher infection risk, said Nguyen Van Luan, chairman of the Phan Thiet People's Committee.

"Patient 34," lives around 1.5 km from the lockdown zone, and in a separate house, and thus the surrounding area doesn't need to be locked down yet, Luan said. 

She has spread the virus to eight other people, making nine infected in Binh Thuan, the worst hit locality in the country at the present.

Vietnam has confirmed 44 Covid-19 infection cases so far, including 28 in the past week. 16 earlier patients have been cured and discharged from hospitals.

Covid-19, which the WHO has declared a pandemic, has spread to 127 countries and territories, killing close to 5,000 people.