Vietnam discharges another 21 Covid-19 patients

Most of the discharges, 17, were made by the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Hanoi; one from the Nho Quan District General Hospital in the northern province of Ninh Binh; and three from the Tra Vinh Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Hospital in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh.

According to the Ministry of Health, the 17 patients discharged in Hanoi are Patients 108, 128, 133, 139, 169, 172, 173, 174, 183, 191, 213, 217, 219, 221, 223, 242 and 251.

Patients 105, 106 and 144 were discharged in Tra Vinh and "Patient 229" from Ninh Binh.

Of the discharged patients, 11 entered Vietnam from other countries, mostly students studying abroad; and 10 cases were the result of community transmission, of whom eight were people who visited, worked at, took care of or came into contact with someone at the Bach Mai Hospital, which became a major Covid-19 hotspot.

As of Friday, the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases has cured 98 Covid-19 patients.

The road to treatment however was not without its difficulties, said Doctor Do Thi Phuong Mai, deputy head of the hospital's general infection department.

"At peak times, there were 22 patients who had lung damage out of 39 positive cases being treated at the department. Some of them had already tested negative, then positive again," she said.

Vietnam has confirmed 268 Covid-19 infections so far and discharged a total of 198 patients.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 210 countries and territories with reported deaths surpassing 147,300.