HCMC high school graduation examinee faints mid-test, found coronavirus positive

The unnamed student, who was doing his literature exam at Le Quy Don High School in District 3, was later taken to District 3 Hospital with fatigue and shaky hands, according to witnesses.

Duong Anh Duc, deputy chairman of the municipal People's Committee and Nguyen Van Hieu, deputy director of the municipal Department of Education and Training, arrived at the scene to investigate, but provided no comment.

An announcement by city authorities in the afternoon stated the student had tested positive for the coronavirus through a quick test. He's been admitted to District 3 Medical Center.

The testing site at Le Quy Don High School has around 607 students in 28 classrooms, along with over 100 teachers and personnel responsible for overseeing the examination process.

Vietnam is undergoing its national high school graduation examination from Wednesday to Thursday. Around a million students across the country are taking them, including 87,000 in HCMC.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, Covid-19 patients, their close contacts and other students living in quarantine zones and locked down areas may take the exams at a later date.

But there have been instances where coronavirus cases were detected in testing sites across the country this morning, requiring disinfection and even temporary suspension.

At Le Thanh Ton High School in HCMC's District 7, a student who tested positive for the coronavirus still participated in the exam, forcing authorities to disinfect the site and ramp up other coronavirus control measures. It has yet to be confirmed how the coronavirus-positive student managed to slip past the screening process.

Another testing site in the northern province of Bac Giang and two others in the central province of Phu Yen also had to be temporarily suspended this morning upon detecting students infected with the coronavirus, according to local health departments.

HCMC, now the nation's biggest coronavirus hotspot, has recorded 8,002 local cases since the fourth wave hit Vietnam in late April.