Twenty of the new cases are in Da Nang, six in neighboring Quang Nam Province and one in the northern province of Bac Giang Province, all linked to the Da Nang outbreak. The remaining three cases in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau are imported, health authorities said.

One of the confirmed cases in Da Nang, "Patient 718," a 67-year-old woman, died of Covid-19 and other diseases Wednesday afternoon, making her Vietnam's 10th Covid-19 fatality.

Patients numbered 719-723 and 730, aged 30-51, were recorded in Quang Nam. Among these are two patients and a caretaker at the Da Nang Hospital and three people who had been in close contact with patients at the hospital who were later diagnosed with Covid-19. All six are now quarantined for treatment at the Quang Nam Central General Hospital.

Patients numbered 724-729 and 731-743 , aged 1-69, were recorded in current Covid-19 hotspot Da Nang. Nine of them had come into close contact with Covid-19 patients. Five of them are patients, three caretakers and another a medical worker at Da Nang medical facilities. Another new patient is from Da Nang's Thanh Khe District, whose contact history has not been clarified.

"Patient 744" is a 7-year-old girl in Bac Giang who had been in close contact with two previously confirmed Covid-19 patients and was in the same tourist group to Da Nang with three other Covid-19 patients. She's now being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

Patients numbered 745-747 were on a ship which traveled from Qatar and docked July 28 at the Vung Tau Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. They were quarantined upon arrival and are now being treated at the Long Dien District medical center. Six others on the ship had previously been confirmed infected.

Also Thursday, 11 Covid-19 patients at the Ba Ria-Vung Tau General Hospital were confirmed to have recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 392.

The number of community transmission cases in Vietnam since July 25 has risen to 295 in 11 localities, all of them associated with Da Nang.

Over 170,000 are in quarantine nationwide

The pandemic has infected over 19 million people so far and its reported death toll has crossed 711,000.