Vietnam will test a suspected COVID-19 case for the fifth time before making any confirmation, even though the patient’s test results have returned positive for at least three times, health officials said on Friday.
The patient in question is a 58-year-old man in Da Nang, according to the Ministry of Health. He has tested positive for the novel coronavirus for at least three times since Thursday. Tuoi Tre News reported.
His fourth test was conducted by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi on Friday, Dr. Le Thi Quynh Mai said.
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The result came back the same day, Dr. Mai added, without revealing if it was positive or negative. The institute will announce the result of a fifth test on Saturday before any confirmation of infection is made, she noted.
If this case is confirmed, it will be the first local transmission in Vietnam in over three months.
According to Tuoi Tre News, at least 103 people having contact with the suspected case have tested negative for COVID-19, Nguyen Thanh Long, acting Minister of Health, said at a meeting in Hanoi on Friday.
The Ministry of Health sent a team of of professionals to Da Nang for help with quarantine the same day while Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, which managed to treat Vietnam’s sickest coronavirus patient, has also seconded highly skilled doctors to the central city to aid the treatment of the patient, who is on a ventilator now. The ministry will conduct mass screening in at-risk areas in Da Nang, using quick test kits made in Vietnam.
Da Nang C Hospital in Da Nang City where a local man is suspected to have infected with Covid-19, July 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong.
Vietnam has registered 413 COVID-19 patients, the health ministry said at ncov.moh.gov.vn, which is dedicated to keeping track of the pandemic’s developments in the country.
The 413rd patient was announced on Friday, who is a Burmese sailor quarantined aboard his ship upon entry on June 23.
He was sent to a hotel in the northern province of Quang Ninh for isolation on July 6.
He tested negative for COVID-19 on July 9 but he retested positive on Thursday.
A total of 365 patients have recovered from the disease, with zero deaths documented.
The Southeast Asian nation has logged no locally-transmitted infection over the last 99 days.
Reporting by Viet Toan / Tuoi Tre News
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Source: Vietnam Insider