The 2019-nCoV is successfully cultivated and isolated in the laboratory (Photo: National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology)

This will enable quicker tests of the virus, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on the sidelines of a meeting in Hanoi on Friday on the coronavirus outbreak. With the latest achievement, Vietnam is able to test thousands of samples a day when necessary, Mr. Long said, noting that this will also be a prerequisite for developing a vaccine against the virus in the future.

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Vietnam has risen to 13 after a female worker in Vinh Phuc tested positive for the virus on Friday. She is one of the eight workers returning from China’s Wuhan city on the same flight with five others who have been confirmed of contracting nCoV. She is one of the remaining three who show no symptoms of the disease and have been isolated.