Starting Monday, central Thua Thien Hue and northern Quang Ninh provinces will place everyone traveling from Ho Chi Minh City in centralized quarantine for a mandatory period of 21 days, during which they will be tested for the new coronavirus. Vietnam has increased the quarantine period from 14 days to 21 days since early May.

Thua Thien Hue also requested all those that had returned from HCMC since May 22 to report themselves to local health authorities and get tested. The timeline is set from May 16 in Quang Ninh.

These groups must be quarantined at home or at designated facilities and closely keep track of their own health to timely detect any Covid-19 symptoms, both provinces requested.

Also from Monday, Binh Dinh in south central Vietnam, Gia Lai in the Central Highlands and Thanh Hoa in the north central region will quarantine all travelers from HCMC's Go Vap District and District 12's Thanh Loc Ward for 21 days.

The Revival Ekklesia Mission, a Christian congregation that has become a biggest Covid-19 cluster ever in HCMC, is based in Go Vap and many infections linked to the mission have also been recorded in the neighboring District 12's Thanh Loc Ward.

The three provinces required those coming from other areas in HCMC to self-isolate for 14 days.

All subjected to quarantine, either in centralized facilities or by themselves, will be tested.

Binh Dinh, Gia Lai, Thanh Hoa and Thua Thien Hue, along with the southern localities of Kien Giang, An Giang, Vinh Long, Can Tho, Dong Nai, the central provinces of Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan, and the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, on Monday morning also ordered a halt to all passenger transport services to and from HCMC.

HCMC has ordered social distancing measures across the city for at least two weeks starting Monday.

The move came as a religious mission cluster in the city has grown in size.

By Monday morning, the city had recorded at least 142 patients linked to the cluster since last Wednesday.

So far in the new wave that started over a month ago, HCMC has officially confirmed 157 patients.

Nationwide, more than 4,000 infections have been registered in 34 cities and provinces.

Minh Nga