The new patients are among the 56 people whose samples were sent to the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute in the central province of Khanh Hoa on March 12, as they had close contact with COVID-19 patients detected in central Binh Thuan province on March 10-11, according to the ministry.

Among the five new cases, a two-year-old girl, a 59-year-old man and a 28-year-old man, all live in Binh Thuan’s Phan Thiet city, had close contact with the 34th patient - a 51-year-old Vietnamese woman who tested positive on March 10.

The two others are a 47-year-old woman in Phan Thiet city, who had close contact with the 38th patient, and a 13-year-old boy in Ham Thuan Bac district, Binh Thuan province, who had contact with the 37th patient.

Of the 44 cases reported in Vietnam so far, 16 had made complete recovery.