The British pilot is undergoing physical therapy with the support of medical workers at HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital. — Photo zingnews.vn

HCM CITY — The British pilot, Việt Nam’s 91st COVID-19 patient, is able to stand and is undergoing physical therapy with the support of medical workers, according to HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital.

The development is a miracle, said doctors from the hospital on Tuesday.

Several days ago, the patient, Stephen Cameron, could sit up in a wheelchair and enjoy the fresh air on the balcony of the hospital. He could move his hands and legs, press key on a keyboard, and use a mobile phone.

Doctors said he still needed time to regain use of his leg muscles.

He has been disconnected from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for 13 days and come off the ventilator for three days, said Associate Professor Lương Ngọc Khuê, head of the health ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment and deputy head of treatment unit under the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

The patient is in a stable condition and is able to talk. Hand and arm muscles have gradually recovered. About four fifths of his leg muscles have recovered.

He undergoes physical therapy twice a day.

The committee’s treatment unit said the British pilot needs many weeks to recover. During the recovery period, there might be new phases of infections.

According to Dr Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Châu, director of HCM City’s Hospital of Tropical Diseases, the company which sold insurance to the patient agreed to cover expenses for 65 days he was treated at the hospital. The expenses were estimated to reach VNĐ3.5 billion (US$152,000).

The 91st patient has been treated at hospitals for 89 days. He was moved from the Hospital of Tropical Diseases to the Intensive Care Unit of Chợ Rẫy Hospital on May 22 with severely damaged lungs.

He was the most critical COVID-19 patient in Việt Nam and tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 at least six times.

As of Tuesday morning, 323 out of 334 COVID-19 patients in Việt Nam have recovered.

Among 11 active cases being treated at six healthcare facilities nationwide, two tested negative once; three tested negative at least twice.

Landing home

About 266 Vietnamese citizens in Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt have been repatriated to Việt Nam on Monday and Tuesday and quarantined upon arrival.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Trần Thành Công and Vietnamese citizens about to board the flight back home. — VNA/VNS Photo

The Bamboo Airways flight bringing them back home safely landed at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport in HCM City.

The passengers are pregnant women, those under 18 years old, critically-ill people and workers whose labour contracts have expired or who are on unpaid leave due to the pandemic.

Under the Prime Minister’s directions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport, domestic agencies and Việt Nam’s overseas representative agencies have arranged a number of flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home.

On the basis of the pandemic’s developments in the country and the world, citizens’ aspirations and local quarantine capacity, more flights are set to be conducted to repatriate Vietnamese citizens. — VNS