HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam recorded no new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday evening, keeping the total number of infected cases in the country at 271.

This marked the 19th day straight the country has had no community transmissions.

Meanwhile, a British pilot, who has tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 over the past five days, remains in a critical condition.

He entirely depends on ECMO support to keep him alive, the HCM City-based Hospital of Tropical Diseases has said.

Dr Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Châu, director of the hospital, said the patient suffered severe lung damage.  

The front of his right lung has collapsed, while the left lung showed signs of blood clotting.

Although the patient has no fever and his pulse and blood pressure are stable, doctors had to drain air from his lungs. 

He now depends entirely on ECMO to keep him alive, he said.

Regarding a lung transplant for the patient, Châu said that it would take at least one or two months to re-evaluate whether the patient’s lungs had recovered or not before going ahead with the procedure.

Results from tests showed that the patient was negative for the virus over the past five days.

The British patient, who was confirmed as the 91st patient in Việt Nam, works for Vietnam Airlines and resides in HCM City. He tested positive for the virus on March 17.

He earlier went to Buddha bar – a COVID-19 hotspot in HCM City linked to 19 infected cases.Nguyễn Tấn Bình, director of the city’s Department of Health said the city would continue testing patients for 30 days after they were discharged from the hospital to make sure no relapse cases are missed.

For those entering the city via points of entry by air, land and sea, mandatory centralised quarantine and seven tests were applied for the 14 days of quarantine instead of twice as previously, he said. — VNS