HCM CITY — A 34-year-old Latvian national was confirmed to be the 54th COVID-19 positive case in Việt Nam late Sunday, according to test results obtained at 7:30pm Sunday from the Pasteur Institute in HCM City.

The male tourist, born in 1988, had visited HCM City and Phú Quốc Island in Kiên Giang Province. His medical records reportedly showed good health, according to the Vietnamese health ministry’s announcement.

The patient, together with his wife, born in 1988, boarded the flight numbered TK165 (Turkish Airlines) from Spain to HCM City on March 8.

A day later, the patient arrived in Phú Quốc on a flight numbered QH1521 (Bamboo Airways) and stayed at La Nube Residence from March 9 to March 13.

On March 13, the patient returned to HCM City on flight QH1524 and stayed at two hotels in the city’s urban districts 1 and 4. At around 4pm Saturday, the patient started showing signs of fever and went by himself to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in HCM City.

The hospital’s test results for him came back positive on Saturday, but his clinical samples were still sent to the Pasteur Institute in HCM City for final confirmation, which was done by RT-PCR diagnostics technique in line with WHO guidelines.

The patient is at the moment being treated at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

He is one of 13 foreigners to test positive for the acute pneumonia disease in Việt Nam.

Out of the 54 positive cases in the country, 16 patients were successfully treated and released from hospital care last month, before a spate of new cases started last week with most originating from flights from European countries, considered the new epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. 102 suspected cases are under stringent medical monitoring and quarantine, while 29,929 people are being observed for either having close contact with confirmed cases or having recently returned from virus-hit regions. — VNS

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