An area leading to the quarantine center of the Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Hospital, where the 1440th Covid-19 patient is being quarantined and treated - PHOTO: NLDO

HCMC – After being confirmed negative during the 12th testing, the 1,440th Covid-19 patient, who had illegally entered Vietnam from Cambodia, has retested positive for the disease, said Ho Thi Thu Hang, deputy director of the Vinh Long Department of Health.

At a press briefing of the Vinh Long government on January 19, Hang said the patient tested positive 11 consecutive times before returning negative the 12th time, the local media reported.

Colonel Huynh Thanh Mong, deputy director of the Vinh Long Police Department, said the department had prosecuted the patient for allegedly spreading dangerous infectious diseases to other people.

However, the patient is being placed under quarantine, so it is difficult to meet him.

The 1,440th Covid-19 patient, who resides in Nhon Phu Commune of Vinh Long’s Mang Thit District, illegally entered Vietnam on December 24 and returned to his home.

After being informed about his case by his relatives, he was immediately placed under quarantine. The provincial Center for Disease Control sent his sample to the HCMC Pasteur Institute for Covid-19 testing and the result came back positive on December 26.