A medical worker takes samples from a boy for Covid-19 testing. The Ministry of Health this morning, June 17, confirmed 159 fresh Covid-19 cases - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - The Ministry of Health this morning, June 17, confirmed 159 fresh Covid-19 cases, including one imported case in Khanh Hoa Province and 158 domestic ones, with most of them in Bac Giang, the country’s largest coronavirus hotspot.

Among the latest locally-infected cases, Bac Giang Province accounted for 87, while HCMC detected 45 infections, Tien Giang Province had 11, Binh Duong Province reported seven and Bac Ninh Province confirmed six. Lang Son and Ha Tinh had one case each.

Since April 27, Vietnam has reported 8,568 community-transmitted Covid-19 cases, with 1,816 Covid-19 patients having made a full recovery.

Among 40 virus-hit provinces and cities nationwide, as many as 24 localities have undergone 14 consecutive days without any new Covid-19 infections.

In related news, the health agency in Nghe An Province found over 6,000 people in Dien Chau District coming into either direct or indirect contact with the province’s latest Covid-19 patient reported on June 16.

To prevent the spread of the disease, Nguyen Duc Trung, chairman of Nghe An and head of the provincial steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention, decided to impose social distancing on Dien Chau District, with some 300,000 people, in line with the Prime Minister’s Directive 15 from midnight today.

Five communes in the district, including Dien Thinh, Dien Tan, Dien Cat, Dien Kim and Dien Trung, which the Covid-19 patient had visited, were told to practice social distancing in line with Directive 16.

Besides, the province began social distancing in the entire Vinh City per Directive 15 on the same day after the city had four Covid-19 infections in the latest wave of coronavirus, the local media reported.