Two more Russia returnees test Covid-19 positive

By Le Nga   May 17, 2020 | 03:33 am PT
Two more Russia returnees test Covid-19 positive
Vietnamese citizens prepare to board a Vietnam Airlines repatriation flight in Moscow, Russia, May 12, 2020. Photo by Vietnam News Agency.
The Health Ministry confirmed two new Covid-19 patients Sunday evening, both Vietnamese repatriated from Russia, raising the country’s infection tally to 320.

The latest patients had been brought home on Vietnam Airlines VN0062 that touched down in the northern province of Quang Ninh  Wednesday. The flight was part of the government’s program to repatriate Vietnamese citizens living and working in pandemic-hit areas overseas.

They had been quarantined on arrival.

"Patient 319" is a 26-year-old man from Kien Thuy District in the port city of Haiphong. He was confirmed positive Saturday and is now undergoing treatment at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

"Patient 320" is a 29-year-old man from Hai Hau District in Nam Dinh Province. He has been admitted at the Thai Binh General Hospital.

The two cases raises the number of active Covid-19 patients in the country to 60, with another 260 patients having recovered.

Russia is now the second worst infected country in the world after the U.S., with almost 282,000 Covid-19 cases and more than 2,600 deaths.

The Russia repatriation flight carried 345 Vietnamese home. Twenty-seven others on that flight have already tested Covid-19 positive.

From April 16 to date, Vietnam has not recorded any cases caused by community transmission.

The country is now focusing more on containing transmission from overseas arrivals. Although its international flight suspension is still in effect, Vietnam has organized special flights to repatriate thousands of citizens from Canada, France, Japan, Russia, the UAE and the U.S., and other Southeast Asian countries. Passengers have paid their own fares.

Civil aviation authorities have said an additional 4,000 citizens are set to be repatriated by mid-June.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 213 countries and territories, and reported deaths have topped 313,700.

 
 
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