British tourist in Hoi An is Vietnam's 33rd Covid-19 patient

By Le Nga, Dac Thanh   March 10, 2020 | 01:06 am PT
British tourist in Hoi An is Vietnam's 33rd Covid-19 patient
Boutique Hoi An Resort in the ancient town Hoi An, where a British patient of Covid-19 stayed between March 6 and 10, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh.
A 58-year-old British man on the same flight as Hanoi’s first Covid-19 patient has tested positive for novel coronavirus.

He flew from Hanoi to Da Nang Airport on Friday night and came to stay at Boutique Hoi An Resort in the ancient town Hoi An.

He tested positive on Tuesday and has been quarantined for treatment at Hue Central Hospital, around three hours away.

His wife who traveled with him tested negative for the coronavirus.

Authorities in Quang Nam Province, home to Hoi An, have isolated eight people who had close contact with him.

In Hanoi, the man visited several top tourist sites including the Opera House, the One-Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature. He spent the night of March 5 on a cruise ship in Ha Long Bay.

He has become the nation's 33rd infection, joining 12 other people on the same March 2 flight from London to Hanoi as Nguyen Hong Nhung, the 26-year-old woman who was confirmed as Hanoi’s first and the nation’s 17th Covid-19 patient on Friday.

Of the 12 co-passengers who have contracted the virus so far, 10 are Brits, one Irish and the other a Hanoi man.

Nhung had flown to Hanoi from London on Vietnam Airlines flight VN54, in the business class. There were 201 passengers on the flight, including 21 in the business class.

The foreign tourists on the flight had traveled to many destinations in the country, including Lao Cai and Quang Ninh in northern Vietnam; and Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An in central Vietnam.

The country had just confirmed its 32nd Covid-19 patient Tuesday afternoon, a 24-year-old woman who'd met Nhung at a party in London, and was flown in a private jet to Vietnam by her family.

Nhung's personal chauffeur and an aunt have also been infected.

Nhung’s case has set off a spate of infections after Vietnam had discharged all previous Covid-19 patients and had recorded 22 days without a new infection.

The Covid-19 outbreak has thus far spread to 115 countries and territories, killing over 4,000.

 
 
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