Medical personnel prepare to disinfect the neighborhood of a Covid-19 patient in Phan Thiet, central Binh Thuan Province, March 10, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Viet Quoc.

With the latest three cases in the central province of Binh Thuan, the country's total infection number has gone up to 38, the Ministry of Health confirmed Wednesday.

After the 51-year-old businesswoman, the country's 34th infection, tested positive, the Center for Disease Control in Binh Thuan took samples from 15 people who’d come into direct contact with her. Three tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The three latest cases are: a 64-year-old house helper for the patient's family, a 37-year-old employee of her company and her 28-year-old daughter-in-law. All three showed symptoms of fever and cough and are being quarantined at the Binh Thuan's General Hospital.

The businesswoman had flown from Ho Chi Minh City to New York on February 22, transiting at the Incheon International Airport in South Korea for three hours.

On February 29, she flew back from Washington D.C., transiting at the Doha International Airport in Qatar. She landed at the Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC on March 2 and took a car home to the resort town of Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan.

On March 5, she developed high fever and a cough. Four days later, she was admitted to the Binh Thuan General Hospital and placed under quarantine pending Covid-19 tests, and the results came back positive.

As of Wednesday evening, Vietnam had reported 38 Covid-19 patients, 16 of them discharged weeks ago.

The Covid-19 outbreak has thus far spread to 119 countries and territories around the world, killing 4,300 people.