Another foreigner flees isolation area in Vietnam’s Ancient Town of Hoi An

A foreign man has left a quarantine area in Hoi An Ancient Town without being given the all clear, the COVID-19 steering committee said on Sunday.

Leyson Smith Santamaria Orjuela, A Colombian citizen, 22, left the quarantine site on 7pm on Saturday, and local authorities have been co-operating with neighboring provinces to track him down. His visa expired on February 22.

The committee said he had not completed his isolation period, and had not been tested for SARS-CoV-2.

The passport of Leyson Smith Santamaria Orjuela from Columbia. He has escaped from an isolation site for COVID-19 in Hoi An. Photo courtesy of Quang Nam Police Department

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The province has isolated 6,116 people at health centres, hotels and households, of whom 2,603 have completed their quarantine periods. Out of 2,608 samples taken, 2,588 (including 707 foreigners) have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.

Three COVID-19 patients (No 31, 33 and 57) found in the province have already been released from hospital after treatment and isolation.

A photo of Leyson Smith Santamaria Orjuela. Quảng Nam is trying to track him down after he fled from an isolation area on April 11. Photo of courtesy Quang Nam Police Department

An American woman in Da Nang city also fled from a hospital on March 30. She was then captured by local police. She later tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. Vietnam News Agency reported.

Hoi An is a city on Vietnam’s central coast known for its well-preserved Ancient Town, cut through with canals. The former port city’s melting-pot history is reflected in its architecture, a mix of eras and styles from wooden Chinese shophouses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese Covered Bridge with its pagoda.