The British pilot poses with doctors at HCM City's Chợ Rẫy Hospital, holding up a scarf his friends sent to him on Tuesday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Chợ Rẫy Hospital

HÀ NỘI — The lungs of the British pilot, Việt Nam’s most critically ill COVID-19 patient, have been recovering well. The patient can breathe unaided and doesn’t need a lung transplant, Lương Ngọc Khuê, director of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department has said.

Khuê said he visited the patient at HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. The patient's lungs are no longer infected and the muscles in his arms and legs are recovering, he said.

When Khuê told the patient to stay healthy to be able to return to England, the patient corrected the doctor very quickly, saying the word ‘Scotland’.

Khuê said this showed that the patient’s reaction was as if he hadn’t experienced two months of coma.

The patient has been talking to his friends in many other countries. He confirmed he was all alone; he has no siblings and his mother is dead.

The patient also took a photo with the doctors, holding up a scarf with the word 'Motherwell', the name of a football team. This was a gift that his friends sent to him last week.

Khuê said after successfully being taken off a ventilator, the patient had the tracheotomy tube removed and could breathe himself.

The most important factor was to undergo physical therapy, especially focusing on infection control as re-infection would be very dangerous for the patient, he said.

Identified as Patient 91 in Việt Nam, the British pilot tested positive for COVID-19 on March 18 and has had 90 days of treatment. — VNS