Twelve people were new Covid-19 patients, raising the nation’s tally to 558 Saturday morning, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control reported.
All of twelve new cases are linked country coronavirus hotpot of Da Nang, taking Vietnam’s cases of community transmission in the last fews days to 116.
Vietnam reported two deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, they are a 70-year-old man and patient #437 61-year-old man and #428, who with multiple underlying health issues. These are the first two deaths of anyone who contracted the disease in the country. The Health & Life newspaper, which run by Ministry of Health reported.
tRelated: Vietnam has recorded its second Covid-19 death in a single day
The Health Ministry said patients had died of “myocardial infarction caused by chronic diseases of hypertension, heart failure, end-stage of chronic renal failure and complications of respiratory failure due to heart failure and Covid-19.”
Also read: Vietnam reports another 37 Covid-19 cases, total hits 546, marking the biggest single-day jump
Vietnam had until Friday been the only nation with a large population not to have suffered fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic.
The country had recorded 100 days without a locally transmission case before the reemergence of the virus.
Of the 558 Covid-19 cases recorded so far, 373 have recovered. More than 53,000 people are in quarantine across the country.
The pandemic has infected more than 17.5 million people worldwide with recorded deaths crossing 677,000.
MASS TESTING
Vietnam began mass coronavirus testing in the capital Hanoi, banned gatherings in its economic hub and urged tens of thousands of domestic travellers to report to authorities on Thursday, as the country scrambled to contain its first outbreak in more than three months.
Text messages were sent to all mobile phones used by the country’s 95 million people, urging anyone who visited the popular coastal city of Danang in July to come forward, after a new wave of the virus spread to six cities and provinces in as many days.
Hanoi’s ruling body started the testing of 21,063 residents who recently returned from Danang, a central holiday getaway that has been a big draw for domestic travellers since restrictions were eased.
The southern commercial centre Ho Chi Minh City followed Hanoi on Thursday in shutting entertainment venues and banning gatherings after two people tested positive among 18,000 residents who were recently in Danang.
The latest response is in line with a centralised quarantine programme and aggressive testing and contact tracing system that saw Vietnam lauded for keeping its coronavirus tally to just 509 cases since late January, with no fatalities.
A strict lockdown has been imposed in Danang and passenger flights halted for 15 days.
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