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A group of 14 Vietnamese, who illegally entered Vietnam from China, were caught by border guards in Ha Giang Province, September 17, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Phan Sai Min.

“It is necessary to tighten control at border gates and across borders in order to prevent illegal entry, ensuring safety for the locals," Long said as he arrived in Tay Ninh last weekend.

Competent authorities have detected many cases of illegal entry to Vietnam posing a possible risk of nCoV contagion from outside to the indigenous people. Last week, 36 people in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long were put into centralized quarantine for COVID-19 prevention and control as they came into contact with Le Thuc Tri, a local man (Patient 1440) who illegally crossed borders from Myanmar, through Thailand and Cambodia, to return to Vietnam.

Vinh Long health authorities are coordinating with other provinces and police to continue verifying testimonies and expanding the investigation on the case.

Until last Sunday, the authorities tracked 15 people having close contact with the patient, of whose 13 testing samples showed negative results. Besides, 129 others were defined as F2 of the positive one.

Tay Ninh has an international border gate as a result the number of people required to put in quarantine after entering the country is very large. Up to now, the province has isolated more than 10,000 people, on average 30 people per day, with a peak return to the country through the border gate of more than 1,000 people per day.

As part of existing Covid-19 prevention measures, anyone who wishes to enter the Vietnamese border must report doing so to border guards and must be quarantined immediately upon entry, according to Vnexpress.

The Health Ministry later on Thursday has confirmed Tri to be Vietnam's latest Covid-19 patient, raising the country's infection tally to 1,440. Of Vietnam's patients, 99 are still active, and there have been 35 deaths. No community transmission has been recorded nationally in nearly a month.

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