37 of Covid-19 patients in Vietnam test negative between once and four times

Among active Covid-19 patients being treated in Vietnam, 37 have tested negative between once and four times, the health ministry confirmed Thursday.

Four patients received negative results four times in a row, four tested negative thrice, two tested negative twice while 27 others did so once.

Among the patients who tested negative four times are three patients in Da Nang who have declared to recover and are set to be discharged on Friday morning.

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Two of the patients who tested negative three times in a row are a 70-year-old British woman infected with the virus while touring Lao Cai, home to the northern highlands resort town of Sa Pa, and 26-year-old Nguyen Hong Nhung, a Hanoi woman who was confirmed infected four days after she returned from London.

Both are being treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. It remains unclear whether they are eligible to be discharged or not.

Under Health Ministry regulations, a person infected with the novel coronavirus is deemed healthy once she/he shows no sign of fever for three days and tests negative twice in three days. Other signs include improved clinical symptoms, overall stable status and vital signs, normal organ function and improved chest X-ray readings.

The two patients who showed negative results for the second time are a 67-year-old Irish tourist and a female flight attendant on Vietnam Airlines flight VN54 from London that landed in Hanoi on March 2, the same as Nhung’s. Both are being treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in the capital.

Among the active cases that tested negative for the first time was a 61-year-old man in Hanoi who boarded Vietnam Airlines flight VN54 from London to Hanoi on March 2 along with Nhung, and a 55 year-old man living in Saigon’s District 8, returning from a crowded Islamic religious event in Malaysia.

So far, the nation has confirmed 148 infections, including 131 active cases. The earlier 17 cases were discharged after treatment.

@ VNExpress