Vietnam confirmed no new Covid-19 community transmission Sunday, the first such a day since the second outbreak wave surfaced late July in the country. 

The national Covid-19 tally currently stands at 1,040 with 695 recoveries and 32 deaths. Two patients died after testing negative for the novel coronavirus a few times.

"Patient 1039" and "patient 1040" are the two latest cases, recorded in Binh Duong Province and Da Nang City on Saturday evening.

Vietnam has recorded 690 community transmissions since Covid-19 broke out in the country, 550 of which, linked to the epicenter Da Nang, have been recorded since July 25.

The country recorded the first domestic case in over three months on July 25. It has since then confirmed the highest daily number of new cases on July 31 with 82 patients. The daily national count of new infections has recently seen a gradual reduction.

The Health Ministry has stated that the biggest outbreaks in Da Nang, Quang Nam and Hai Duong have been put under control, but the risk of community transmission remains "very high".

A medical staff collects a sample for Covid-19 testing in Quang Nam Province,
central Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh.

On August 30, 19 people including a 21-month-old baby, were declared free of the virus at the Da Nang Hospital for Lung Diseases and the Hoa Vang medical center in the central city.

Among the 311 active patients, 45 have tested negative once, 51 twice and 28, three times. Thirteen patients are critically ill and on life support.

A 24-year-old man from the northern province of Ha Nam Province, who tested positive for the virus on August 21 in South Korea, tested negative a week later, on August 28, while 101 people who’d come into close contact with him in Hanoi and Ha Nam have tested negative once.

Of more than 25.1 million people infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide, over 845,000 have died to date.