South Korean man found dead in Vietnam tests negative for coronavirus

By Hoang Phong   February 26, 2020 | 11:53 pm PT
South Korean man found dead in Vietnam tests negative for coronavirus
A doctor takes blood sample for Covid-19 test at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy.
Test results revealed a South Korean man died in Bac Ninh Province Tuesday of non-coronavirus complications.

Jung Jin Yong, 44, who entered Vietnam on January 28, stayed at a hotel in the northern province, employed by STN VINA Company.

On February 7, he visited the provincial general hospital and was diagnosed with and treated for type 2 diabetes.

Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, the man returned to hospital after suffering a backache and requested medicine. Doctors claimed he didn't show symptoms of fever or breathing complications.

He was later found motionless at a crossroad, around 100 meters from the hospital, provincial police confirmed.

Back at the hospital, the patient entered a state of apnea and cardiac arrest.

Test results from the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology showed that he did not carry the Covid-19 virus.

Police in Bac Ninh are cooperating with the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam to investigate the cause of death.

Earlier, Facebook posts mistakenly ascribed Yong's death to the coronavirus epidemic after the South Korean government declared a red alert, its highest level of alarm.

South Korea made international headlines as the worst-hit country after China, with nearly 1,600 infections and 13 deaths, many in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province.

Vietnam has suspended entry from all areas affected by the coronavirus outbreak under a prime ministerial directive issued Tuesday. The new policy came after the epidemic saw complicated developments in South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Iran.

Visitors from infected countries must complete a health declaration and enter quarantine for 14 days, the directive said.

On Wednesday, the last of 16 coronavirus patients in Vietnam was discharged. The country has recorded no new infections over the past two weeks.

The global death toll has reached 2,807, mostly in China.

 
 
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