The Quang Ninh traffic police force has strengthened the strict control on people and vehicles travelling from other provinces into to Quang Ninh. (Photo: NDO/Quang Tho)
According to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, Vietnam has so far confirmed 989 infections. Of which, 649 are locally-transmitted cases, including 509 linked to the pandemic hotspot in the central city of Da Nang since July 25.
On Tuesday alone, 58 COVID-19 patients were declared as recovered, including five at the Central General Hospital in Quang Nam Province, six at the General Hospital of Quang Nam’s mountainous region, 19 at the Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, 23 at the Hoa Vang Medical Centre in Da Nang City, and five at the Hue Central Hospital in Thua Thien Hue Province.
One of the five patients that recovered from the disease at the Hue Central Hospital was discharged for home isolation yesterday. The remaining four patients – now free of the coronavirus – still have serious medical backgrounds, including chronic kidney failure, heart failure and hypertension, so they will be transferred to Da Nang C Hospital for regular dialysis and further treatment.
A medical worker disinfecting Da Nang Hospital. (Photo: NDO/Anh Dao)
The latest discharged patients helped raise the total number of recoveries to 525.
Among the 464 patients undergoing treatment at medical establishments, 35 have tested negative for the virus once, 35 others twice and 30 three times.
The total related deaths is 26, with one former COVID-19 patient has been announced died due to serious chronic diseases. Known as Patient 418, a 61-year-old man from Da Nang who had tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 four times on August 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th, died on August 12th due to complications from chronic renal failure at the Hue Central Hospital. Doctors attributed the death to septic shocks, multi-organ failure, hypertension, diabetes type 2 and chronical obstructive pulmonary disease.
Against the complicated outbreak in a local restaurant in Hai Duong City, the capital of Hai Duong Province, which has 11 infections detected so far, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control called on relevant authorities, localities and the public to strengthen disease preventive measures.
For Hai Duong, the locales should drastically implement measures to localise, stamp out epidemic, tracing close contacts of COVID-19 patients and carry out COVID-19 tests for locals at risk of infection.
Health workers in Hai Duong City make efforts to trace and take samples to test people at risk of COVID-19 infection. (Photo: NDO/Quoc Vinh)
Regarding the testing, Acting Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long stated that from July 25 to August 17, Vietnam used the Realtime RT-PCR technique to test more than 342,000 samples. In particular, the number of tests in hospital facilities has increased from 10-40%.
The Ministry of Health continues to direct central-level hospitals to establish laboratories with a large capacity for testing to support localities in case of widespread of the pandemic. In a record short time – just a week, the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City has set up two laboratories for confirmation of SARS-COV-2 in Da Nang – the current epicentre for the new wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam.
In Hanoi, from July 23 to August 17, 10 new cases were reported, with most of them directly or indirectly related to the outbreaks in Da Nang and Hai Duong. Hanoi’s authorities on August 18 issued an urgent dispatch, asking for stricter implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures following new cases of community transmission discovered in the capital city.
It is reported that more than 100,000 people have returned from Da Nang to Hanoi, including some 77,150 returnees from July 15.
The city has carried out quick testing for more than 75,100 people and PCR testing for 50,602 others. Hanoi is striving to quickly complete the implementation of RT-PCT testing for all people who visited Da Nang and returned to Hanoi from July 15-29 to August 20.
The Quang Ninh traffic police force has strengthened the strict control on people and vehicles travelling from other provinces into to Quang Ninh. (Photo: NDO/Quang Tho)
Facing the complicated development of the epidemic, Quang Ninh Province continues to accelerate the traceability, verification, early testing and screening all for arrivals coming from other locales hit by COVID-19 from July 1. As of 3 pm on August 18, Quang Ninh has established interdisciplinary quarantine posts to control people and vehicles from Hai Duong to Quang Ninh.
