Vietnam reports 82 new coronavirus cases in two clusters

Vietnam reported 82 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, hours after confirming the first two infections in nearly two months.

Ten of the cases were detected in the northeastern Quang Ninh province, after a man working at Van Don International Airport was confirmed to be infected.

Security guards could be seen monitoring the entrance to one of the affected areas, and local residents received bags of groceries over the cordon.

The other 72 cases came from an outbreak at an electronics company in the neighboring Hai Duong province, where a 34-year-old employee tested positive after her colleague was found carrying the virus from Japan several days earlier, the health ministry said.

The ministry said over 3,000 people in the area would be tested.

Vietnam has recorded more than 1,600 cases of COVID-19 with 35 deaths.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for an urgent meeting Thursday morning to discuss action to contain the outbreak, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.