According to the HCM City Department of Health, up to 48 people in 12 districts of HCM City and other localities have come into close contact with the 48-year-old South Korean man who tested positive for the virus at an airport in Japan.

Dozens of people in Vietnam have been defined to have had close contact with a South Korean expert who has tested positive for Covid-19.

He is an expert of a Japanese firm which has a representative office in Hanoi. He entered Vietnam on July 29 and was quarantined in Hanoi. During the stay in Vietnam, he did not have contact with any Covid-19 cases.

On October 24, he left Vietnam for Japan and tested positive for Covid-19 at Narita International Airport.

Japanese authorities will conduct further tests on his case to define whether he has contracted the virus officially or not.

When he was in Vietnam, he visited several localities, including Nha Trang and Danang and stayed in HCM City between August 16 and October 24.

All people who were in close contact are being quarantined and provided with Covid-19 tests. So far 42 among those have tested negative for the virus, while others are still waiting for the result.

Meanwhile, the city also gave Covid-19 tests for 297 people who had contact with the 48 original people. Among those, 123 had negative results, while the results for others have not yet been released.