Vietnam Covid-19 tally crosses 1,000

Eleven of the new cases are from the central city of Da Nang, one from neighboring Quang Nam Province and two are imported, the Health Ministry said.

The Da Nang patients, numbered 994 to 998 and 1,001 to 1,006, are aged 24-65. They include six caregivers, one medical worker and one patient at the Da Nang Hospital and the Da Nang Oncology Hospital. The remaining three are people who'd come into contact with people later diagnosed with Covid-19.

"Patient 999", a 26-year-old resident of Quang Nam, is the husband and brother-in-law of two previously confirmed Covid-19 patients who were treated at the Da Nang Hospital. He is being treated at the Quang Nam General Hospital.

"Patient 1,000," a 33-year-old Filipino man in Khanh Hoa, is an expert who flew from South Korea to the south-central province's Cam Ranh Airport on August 14, and was quarantined upon arrival. He is being treated at the Khanh Hoa Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

"Patient 1,007" is a 27-year-old resident of Ho Chi Minh City who had landed July 29 in Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport on a repatriation flight from Equatorial Guinea and quarantined at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases on arrival. He self-quarantined himself at home in HCMC starting August 14, before testing positive for the novel coronavirus on August 19. He is now under treatment at HCMC's Cu Chi field hospital.

Also Thursday evening, "Patient 994," an 87-year-old man, was taken off Vietnam's tally of Covid-19 patients after testing negative for the virus thrice. He had been recorded as a Covid-19 patient in Hanoi Thursday morning. However, the octogenarian is still being monitored at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi's Dong Anh District.

Nine Covid-19 patients were confirmed recovered Thursday - one at the Da Nang Lung Hospital and the rest at the city's Hoa Vang District medical center.

The health ministry also said Thursday that the country's biggest Covid-19 outbreaks in Da Nang, Quang Nam and Hai Duong have "basically been put under control."

The northern province of Hai Duong has not recorded any new case in the last two days, while "suspected cases in Da Nang and Quang Nam have been traced, tested and quarantined" per Covid-19 prevention protocols.

While the number of new cases in Da Nang and Quang Nam has markedly dropped of late, new cases could still spring up, so authorities should continue to be on the lookout to detect and trace them, it added.

Of the 1,007 Covid-19 cases recorded to date in Vietnam, 542 have recovered, 439 are active cases and 25 have died.