Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam reported 10 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24hours to 6pm on December 28, including one who illegal entered the country via smalltrails, according to the National Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Patents No. 1,442-1,450 returned home from Russia on the flight VN5062, which landed in theCam Ranh International Airport in the central province of Khanh Hoa on December25.  They are now being quarantined andtreated at the Khanh Hoa provincial Hospital for Tropical Diseases and a general clinic in Ninh Sim – Ninh Hoa area.

Thelatest case, Patient No.1,451, whose registered residence was in Su Van Hanhapartment building in District 5, illegally entered Vietnam on the earlymorning of December 24 to avoid the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

The apartment building has been under lockdown and tenants are asked not toleave their apartments, while local police officers have been deployed to guardthe place.

Thirteen close contacts of the man, including his girlfriend, a motorbike taxidriver, and those who joined him at a restaurant and a karaoke parlour, were placed under concentratedquarantine and got tested.

Forty-eightsecond-hand contacts – those who have come into contact with the above 13– were also asked to self-quarantine at home.

Uponillegally entering Vietnam at Long Binh border gate, An Phu district, An Giang province,the two COVID-19 patients, in addition to three other Vietnamese citizens,hired a seven-seat car to return across the southern region.

An Giang province has identified the driver on December 28, a 30-year-old mannamed M.V.T, residing in Vinh Loc commune, An Phu district.

According to local authorities, after transporting the group entering Vietnam illegally,the driver failed to disinfect his car and went on to transport a number ofteachers and officials of Vinh Loc commune to be treated in hospitals in HCMCity.

Eight of them had to be quarantined.

Anotherwoman on the same ride is currently being quarantined at Sa Dec Hospitalin Dong Thap province, while three others in the illegal entry caseremain unaccounted for.

Further epidemiological investigation is ongoing to prevent the spread ofcoronavirus in the community.

So far, all direct contacts of Patient No.1,440 have been negative for thenovel coronavirus in their first test.

The latest cases pushed the country's total infections to 1,451,with 35 deaths and 1,318 recoveries after 15 patients were given the all-clearon December 28.

There are 17,016 people having close contacts with COVID-19 patients and returningfrom pandemic-hit areas under quarantine./.