HCMC – All the 12th floor residents from Block D of the Pham Viet Chanh apartment buildings in Ward 19, Binh Thanh District, where a Covid-19 patient who had recovered was suspected to be reinfected with the disease, have tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
The Health Ministry’s General Department of Preventive Medicine released the test results of the residents this morning, June 30.
Besides this, the patient who recovered from Covid-19, the 326th case, and her family members tested negative as well.
In a notice issued yesterday, Bui Hong Que, chairwoman of the ward, said that all households on the 12th floor were asked to take Covid-19 tests.
The HCMC Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the district’s Medical Center had ordered the testing to prevent the community transmission of Covid-19 in the area, the official said.
According to the Health Ministry, the patient is an overseas Vietnamese student who arrived in Vietnam from France on May 24. The 20-year-old student was quarantined on arrival and tested positive for the virus the following day.
After recovering from the deadly respiratory disease and being discharged from hospital on June 9, the patient was quarantined for another 14 days at an isolation facility in the district as regulated by the Health Ministry.
When the patient returned to her home in the apartment block, local health workers frequently collected her samples for testing. On June 20, she tested weak positive for the disease.
Accordingly, the local health authorities decided to collect the samples of the residents from the same floor as the patient for testing to actively prevent a Covid-19 infection. However, the notice requesting the testing has triggered concerns among a certain number of local residents.
In response, the Health Ministry stressed that Covid-19 patients who recover and then test positive again are not infectious.
As of this morning, the city reported 61 Covid-19 infections, with 57 recoveries. Some 568 people are being monitored at quarantine facilities in the city, while 119 others are self-isolating at home.
