Vietnam starts Saturday with no new coronavirus infection

The number of active Covid-19 patients in the country remains at 45, not to mention six relapse cases, including one who has left Vietnam.

By Friday morning, Vietnam had gone eight straight days clear of new infections. In the evening, two new cases were confirmed.

They are a 22-year-old woman and 23-year-old man, both students studying in Japan who returned to Van Don Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh April 22. They are quarantined and being treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

Of Vietnam's 270 patients, 225 have been discharged from hospitals. Among the 45 ones that are still undergoing treatment, 15 have tested negative once and two twice.

However, the nation has had six relapse cases, with the latest two being "Patient 36," a 64-year-old woman in the south central province of Binh Thuan, and "Patient 137," a 34-year-old man in the north central province of Nghe An. The man was released from hospital in Hanoi on April 7 and was quarantined for another 14 days, but was confirmed positive again on Thursday, one day after he returned to his hometown. The woman was discharged on April 10 and confirmed positive on Friday when she was just about to finish her 14-day post-discharge quarantine.

The three other relapse cases are "Patient 188," a 44-year-old woman in Hanoi who tested positive for the novel coronavirus on April 18, two days after her discharge; "Patient 52," a 24-year-old Vietnamese woman returning from London, and "Patient 149," a 40-year-old Vietnamese man returning from Germany, who were both discharged April 16 and tested positive again five days later under quarantine at a hospital in Quang Ninh Province.

"Patient 22," a British man whose samples tested positive as he left Vietnam, had tested negative again in his home country.

The Covid-19 pandemic has reached 210 countries and territories with a reported death toll of almost 197,000.