Number of COVID-19 case remains unchanged, one tests positive again

However, Patient 151, who was previously given the all-clear, tested positive again on April 28, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

She is the wife of Patient 207. Both were previously discharged from hospital and placed under quarantine at home for an additional 14 days. However, when her husband was found to have relapsed into the disease on April 27, she was immediately sent to the COVID-19 hospital in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Although the test result on April 27 showed that she was negative, another test on the following day indicated she was positive again.

Among the 270 cases, 130 are imported cases and have been quarantined upon arrival in Vietnam. So far, 221 patients have fully recovered.

Of the 49 patients still receiving treatment, 11 have tested negative for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 once and eight tested negative at least twice.

The National Steering Committee said experts have carried out the re-culture of virus samples from five cases who were re-tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 after recovering, but the viruses did not develop.

* The Hanoi People's Committee just issued a decision approving a plan to allocate VND650 billion from the capital city’s budget to support the poor and policy beneficiary families to access loans to restore production, with priority given to sectors and fields affected by COVID-19.

On April 28, Hanoi City People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung signed the promulgation of Directive 07 on the implementation of COVID-19 prevention measures in the new situation, in order to effectively boost preventive measures, restore socio-economic development and ensuring social security in Hanoi.

* Also, on April 28, various localities across the country decided to send students back to school after a long break due to the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Grade 12 students at Lap Vo 2 High School in Dong Thap Province return to school after a long break due to COVID-19. (Photo: NDO/Huu Nghia).

Schools across Ho Chi Minh City and Ben Tre Province will begin welcoming students back on May 4, while all training institutions under the Vietnam National University in HCM City system will re-open from May 18.

Dong Thap Province has allowed students in Grades 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and students of vocational education institutions to return to their schools from May 4, while preschool and elementary students may resume operation from May 11.

On the same day, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a set of 15 criteria to assess the safety of the prevention and control of COVID-19 in schools, focusing on preventive measures being applied before, during and after students return to school.

* On April 28, Fast Retailing Group (which owns the Uniqlo fashion retail brand), in collaboration with partners in Vietnam, presented 500,000 face masks made by Uniqlo to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee. This is part of a project to donate 10 million masks implemented by Fast Retailing worldwide to prevent and combat the pandemic.