Two Russia returnees Vietnam’s latest Covid-19 patients

By Le Nga July 12, 2020 | 03:52 am PT

Vietnamese wait to be repatriated home at Sheremetyevo airport in Russia, May 12, 2020. Photo by Vietnam News Agency.

Two Vietnamese women returning from Russia have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, raising the national tally of active cases to 22, the Health Ministry confirmed Sunday.

"Patient 371," 36, hails from Nam Sach District in northern Hai Duong Province and "Patient 372," 31, from Hanoi’s Me Linh District.

The two women, passengers on Vietnam Airlines flight VN506 that landed July 9 in the southern city of Can Tho, were quarantined on arrival in Bac Lieu Province nearby.

Their samples tested positive a day later and they are under treatment at the Bac Lieu General Hospital.

As of Sunday, Vietnam has recorded 372 coronavirus infections. Among the 350 patients who have recovered is "Patient 91," the British pilot whose life Vietnamese doctors fought for months to save. He was discharged Saturday and scheduled to fly home on Sunday.

Vietnam has gone 88 days without community transmission of Covid-19. There has been no Covid-19 death to date. Of those still under treatment, one was tested negative once and three others twice.

In the rest of the world, the pandemic’s reported death toll is 567,000.