88-year-old coronavirus patient discharged

This has brought down the number of active cases to 39.

All 11 were discharged from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

"Patient 161," who is from Van Lam District in the northern province of Hung Yen, suffered a stroke on March 17 and was paralyzed in the left side of the body. She was rushed to the local Pho Noi Hospital where she was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage.

She was then taken to Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital, where she was in the same room as "patient 133" from March 17 to 22.

After nine days of treatment her condition improved. But on March 24 the hospital, which had become the country’s biggest Covid-19 hotspot with 45 cases, tested and diagnosed her with Covid-19.

At her age and with the underlying condition, she became one of the five most critical coronavirus patients in Vietnam, suffering lung damage. She was treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, where she was put on a ventilator and received intensive care.

"Patient 161," a 88-year-old woman, is being treated for Covid-19 at the intensive care unit of the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Chi Le.

Now, after testing negative five times and being discharged, she has returned to Bach Mai Hospital to resume physical therapy for the stroke.

Among the other patients discharged, "Patient 163" is her 43-year-old granddaughter who became infected while taking care of her at Bach Mai.

Patients 74 and 137 relapsed.

All 11 patients will be monitored for 14 more days during which they will be tested at least twice more.

The nation’s tally of infections has remained unchanged at 271 since Sunday evening, when a British oil expert arriving in HCMC tested positive.