On Thursday, "Patient 92", a 21-year-old Vietnamese student from France, relapsed 15 days after he was discharged from Ho Chi Minh City's Cu Chi field hospital. The fourth relapse in HCMC took the country's total to 12.

Saigon authorities have isolated the 1A-1B apartment building on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 1, where the relapsed patient resides. The building has been blocked off for disinfection, and 36 households with more than 90 residents have been isolated and their samples taken for Covid-19 testing.

"Patient 268", a resident of Dong Van District in Ha Giang Province, was discharged earlier Thursday. The 16-year-old Hmong girl tested negative for the virus four times, but will have to self-quarantine at home for another 14 days. The northern mountainous province is now free of Covid-19 infections.

Of the 270 confirmed cases recorded in Vietnam so far, 52 remain active and 218 have been discharged.

Around 35,000 people are in quarantine and medically monitored across the country, with 316 in hospitals, 6,700 at quarantine facilities and the rest at home.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 210 countries and territories so far, with reported loss of lives crossing 228,600.