On Tuesday morning, the second base of the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi’s Dong Anh district discharged two more Covid-19 patients, N.T.Y and P.V.C. The duo are from the northern province of Vinh Phuc, one had returned from China’s city of Wuhan – the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak, and the other one had previously had close contact with a confirmed cased.
P.V.C, 29, is among the eight workers of Japanese-invested Nihon Plast Co., Ltd, who were sent to Wuhan for training for two months and a half and came back on January 17. He developed symptoms of a sore throat and a cough on January 21 and was confirmed positive for the new coronavirus on January 26.
After three days of treatment, the patient was free from of their fever and his health condition was stable. His SARS-CoV 2 test was positive twice on February 7 and February 9, respectively. However, the patient was tested negative on February 11 and 12. Currently, the patient has not suffered any fever for ten days and he is now in stable health.
Meanwhile, N.T.Y, the 55-year-old woman, got the virus from another patient, who is her neighbour. She showed symptoms of a fever, headache and body aches on January 30 and was transferred from Vinh Phuc to the Hanoi-based hospital to continue receiving isolated treatment from February 9. However, Y turned up negative in two tests on February 12 and 15. Currently, the patient is stable with all X-ray and other medical test results are normal.
The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases received a total of five patients from Vinh Phuc and all of them have been cured and discharged so far. Earlier, three of them were released from the hospital on February 10.
Present at the discharge celebration, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s Department of Medical Service Administration, shared the joy with the hospital’s doctors and two patients.
"The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases is in the forefront of receiving and treating Covid-19 patients. I would like to congratulate the hospital’s physicians and the two patients who are discharged today. I also hope they will be the last two Covid-19 patients of the hospital. This success makes us very proud,” Khue said.
Speaking before leaving the hospital, both patients thanked the hospital’s doctors and medical staff for their treatment and care.
“I worried when I was admitted to the hospital, but the doctors encouraged me and advised me to be confident and trust them as they would try their best to take care and treat me well. Every day I was treated here, I felt much better. During the nine days here, I always trusted the doctors. Now I have recovered well and I am very happy. I would like to thank all the care and support for me", Y said in emotion.
So far, Vietnam has reported 16 cases of the virus, including 11 from Vinh Phuc province. The four patients being treated at the Quang Ha General Clinic in Vinh Phuc’s Binh Xuyen district are also expected to be discharged later today.
If all six cases are to be announced free from Covid-19, the number of cured cases in Vietnam could be raised to 13 on Tuesday. The remaining three cases are still being monitored but their health situation is progressing well and they are expected to be discharged soon.
As from February 13, there have been no new cases in Vietnam.
Health experts said although there is no vaccine for the new virus, the country has enough capacity and experience to treat Covid-19 patients and its treatment regimen has shown good results so far.
According to the MoH’s infectious disease surveillance system, up until 3:30 pm on February 18, the world has recorded 73,336 cases of Covid-19 infection, of which 72,438 cases and 1,869 deaths have been recorded in mainland China, including Liu Zhiming, the president of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital in China’s Hubei province, was confirmed dead from Covid-19 on Tuesday morning.
