A province in Vietnam has placed more than 500 students and teachers in home isolation, while sending tens of thousands of others to centralized quarantine, following the detection of over a dozen confirmed COVID-19 cases.

As many as 511 students and teachers in Bac Ninh Province have been transferred to centralized quarantine facilities after being identified as the direct contacts of 14 coronavirus patients, the provincial Department of Education and Training reported on Monday.

Meanwhile, over 48,000 other students and teachers have been put under home quarantine as the indirect contacts of these patients.

Ten of the 14 patients, who were earlier diagnosed with COVID-19, are being treated in Bac Ninh while the remainder have been hospitalized in Hanoi.

Reportedly, there may be a connection between these patients and the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the province’s Thuan Thanh District.

The department has allowed all kindergarten and school students to stay home from May 10 for COVID-19 prevention.

Any schools requisitioned as centralized quarantine facilities must comply with relevant regulations and instructions, the department required.

Since April 27, Vietnam has recorded 502 domestic COVID-19 cases in 26 provinces and cities, the Ministry of Health reported.

Of the infections, 99 were detected in Bac Ninh, according to the health ministry's data.

These new cases have taken the country’s tally to 3,507 COVID-19 patients, including 2,618 recoveries and 35 deaths, since the pandemic struck in early 2020, the ministry reported.