HCMC – Vietnam’s Ministry of Health today, July 31, confirmed the first Covid-19 death as the coronavirus re-emerged in the country last week after 99 days without local transmission.
The country’s first death caused by the deadly virus is the 428th patient, a resident of Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province, who had underlying health conditions.
The 70-year-old was confirmed as positive for Covid-19 while he was receiving treatment for end stage kidney disease at Danang Hospital. He tested positive for Covid-19 on July 27 and was transferred to Hue Central Hospital in neighboring Thua Thien-Hue Province on July 30.
Associate Professor Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment at the Health Ministry, said the patient had relied on a dialysis machine for 10 years and had had hypertension and heart failure. “The ministry will review the entire Covid-19 treatment process,” he noted.
Khue added that many of the Covid-19 patients under treatment are in critical condition, such as the 416th, 418th, 431st, 436th, 437th and 438th cases. Most of them are elderly people with underlying health conditions.
Since Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, broke out early this year, Vietnam has reported 509 cases, with one of them dead. The national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control has confirmed that four patients, including two Myanmar nationals, recovered and were discharged from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases this morning.
So far, 373 patients have fully recovered from Covid-19.
