HAN.. : Vietnam's recent COVID-19 outbreak in thecentral city of Danang, which led to more than 200 cases and eight deaths, appears to have started early in July, the government said on Tuesday (Aug 4), amid concern the virus may have been spreading undetected earlier.

"After having conducted antibody tests on 5,000 samples collected from infected patients and their relatives, it can be concluded that the outbreak appears to have started in early July," Dang Duc Anh, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said in a government statement.

Vietnam has registered 670 COVID-19 cases in total, with eight deaths as of Tuesday.