Vietnam reports third Covid-19 fatality after hospital outbreak
1 August 2020, 17:14
Vietnam has reported its third coronavirus fatality and two dozen more cases following an outbreak at a hospital last week.
The nation has widely been regarded as a global success story in combating the coronavirus, with no confirmed cases of local transmission for 99 days.
But following the outbreak at Da Nang hospital it has spread to six parts of the country, including three of the largest cities, forcing authorities to reimpose virus restrictions.
Da Nang is Vietnam's most popular beach destination, and thousands of visitors were in the city for summer holidays.
Across the country, authorities are rushing to test people who have returned home from the coastal city.
Of the 28 new cases reported on Saturday, 20 are from Da Nang hospitals and six are from local community transmissions in the city.
The other two are Vietnamese nationals returning from Indonesia.
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The Health Ministry said the latest fatalities included a 68-year-old woman who was treated for blood cancer and a 61-year-old man who suffered septic shock and chronic kidney failure.
The country's first Covid-19 death was a 70-year-old man who was admitted with a kidney illness.
All three died in a hospital in Da Nang.
Fifteen other patients with Covid-19 are in critical condition, officials said. All have other underlying illnesses.
Experts worry the actual number of cases could be far higher. Before the latest outbreak, Vietnam had a total of only 416 cases.
In Hanoi, the capital, where two people have tested positive after returning from Da Nang, over 100 clinics have been set up with test kits to detect the virus.
Hanoi has tested a third of the 54,000 people returning from Da Nang.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the country's southern hub, five people who returned from Da Nang have tested positive for the virus. The city is testing some 20,000 other returnees.
"The Covid-19 outbreak is no longer an issue in Da Nang only when we have recorded cases in Quang Nam, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City among other locations," acting health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said.
As the number of cases continues to increase, Da Nang has tightened security and set up more checkpoints to prevent people from leaving or entering the city, which has been in lockdown since Tuesday.
The city on Friday began setting up a makeshift hospital in a sports auditorium and doctors have been mobilised from other cities to help.
Hoi An, an ancient town and top tourist destination known for its charming old houses 12 miles south of Da Nang, stopped allowing visitors on Thursday because of the outbreak.
Its pedestrian streets, adorned with lanterns, were empty and non-essential services and gatherings were banned.
