in the city, said Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the HCMC Department of Health. 

{keywords}
A health employee sprays disinfectant at a venue in Lam Dong Province. During a two-day stay in HCMC, a Japanese business executive who had been confirmed positive for the coronavirus while returning to Tokyo from Vietnam’s Lam Dong Province by the Japanese authorities on July 31 interacted with 28 people in the city – PHOTO: TNO

Speaking at a meeting on August 3 of the HCMC steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control, Binh noted that the Covid-19 patient had travelled to many places in the city, Thanh Nien Online reported.

On the morning of the same day, the municipal Center for Disease Control was informed by the Lam Dong Center for Disease Control of the positive Covid-19 case involving the 75-year-old Japanese director of a company in Lac Duong District. The Japanese health authority's PCR (Polymerase-Chian-Reaction) test on him returned positive.

The patient entered Vietnam in March and flew to HCMC on July 17 on Flight VN7385 from Dalat City.

The man then came to CoCo Ichibanya, a restaurant on 13 Ly Tu Trong Street, for lunch. At 1.30 p.m. on the same day, he visited Lotus Company at 9-9A No Trang Long Street to meet his colleagues and then moved to the Farmers Market store on Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Tuoi Tre Online reported.

He continued to go to Fami Company on Street B4 in District 2, a Nam An Market store at 21 Thao Dien, and the River Gate Residence building at 155 Ben Van Don Street in District 4.

At 6.00 p.m., he had dinner at Chiyoda Sushi on the Bui Vien pedestrian street and then went to a hotel on Ben Van Don Street.

On July 18, he visited a café on Le Duan Street, dropped into a Nam An Market store on Nguyen Van Troi Street, shopped at Aeon Mall Tan Phu and had lunch at Dokki.

He returned to Dalat City on Flight BL352 at 5.30 p.m. on July 19.

On July 31, he traveled to HCMC from Dalat City via Flight VN738 and then flew back to Tokyo from HCMC.

Among the 28 people confirmed to have interacted with the Japanese patient, 27 have had their samples taken for testing, with one person testing negative.

The Japanese director’s stay in HCMC was not long, so he might have been exposed to the virus in Dalat, according to the director of the HCMC Department of Health.

Nguyen Duc Thuan, director of the Lam Dong Department of Health, said that when entering Vietnam, the Japanese director showed a certificate indicating he was free of the virus, which was verified by the Japanese health authority.

Over the past few days, Lam Dong Province tested 34 people who had come into close contact with him, but all the test results came back negative for Covid-19, Thuan said. SGT