Vietnam's last Covid-19 patient hopes he won't be shunned

50-year-old Nguyen Van Vinh, a native of Son Loi District in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, had caught the novel coronavirus infection from his 23-year-old daughter Nguyen Thi Du.

Du was one of eight workers of a Japanese-invested company who returned from China’s Wuhan City, the epicenter of the outbreak, on January 17. Six of the eight workers were found infected later, and the infection passed on from them to some relatives and friends.

Vinh had stayed with his daughter after she returned from Wuhan until she was quarantined on January 25. Other members of the family were also infected, and they were treated successfully and discharged earlier.

Vinh tested positive for the novel coronavirus on February 13 and was quarantined at the Quang Ha Clinic in Vinh Phuc the same day.

"I really miss my home and want to return to my wife and children. I hope the community won't shun me," he said.

Under the Health Ministry regulations, a person infected with the novel coronavirus is deemed healthy once she/he shows no sign of fever for three days and tests negative twice in three days. Other signs include improved clinical symptoms, overall stable status and vital signs, normal organ function and improved chest X-ray readings.

With Vinh's discharge, Vietnam now has no Covid-19 infection case left. The nation had declared the novel coronavirus outbreak an epidemic on February 1, and has recorded 16 infected cases in total, so far.

The first cases, a Chinese father and son, were quarantined in Saigon's Cho Ray Hospital on January 23 and discharged by February 12.

"Even though we have finished treating patients who've tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, we still have to monitor cases of suspected infection," said Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy head of the Health Examination and Treatment Department.

Vietnam has recorded no new infection cases in the last 13 days.

The global death toll of the epidemic is near 3,000, with most of the deaths in mainland China, followed by Iran at 16, South Korea at 12 and Italy at 11.