Hà Nội's health workers take blood samples for quick testing for citizens returning from Đà Nẵng City. — VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — Five more people have tested positive for COVID-19, all in central Quảng Nam Province.

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control said the total number of people who have contracted the disease since the first case back in January now stands at 464.

The new cases include four women, aged between 49 and 69, who had been taking care of family members being treated at Đà Nẵng Hospital.

Another new case is a 53-year-old male who took care of his father – patient No 428 – at Đà Nẵng Hospital on July 24.

Dr Lê Đức Nhân, director of Đà Nẵng Hospital, said the hospital is treating 19 patients, of which two cases are now on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) and two cases need ventilators.

Patient No 428 ​​has a history of chronic kidney failure and needs a ventilator.

On Thursday, the hospital worked with Huế Central Hospital to transfer five more dialysis patients to Đà Nẵng City.

Regarding 219 Vietnamese citizens brought home from Equatorial Guinea, Dr Nguyễn Trung Cấp, deputy director of the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, said 125 of them tested positive for the coronavirus.

Six out of 125 patients suffer lung lesions, three cases are co-infected with malaria and parasites and need to be closely monitored.

The number of community transmission cases confirmed on Thursday evening since July 25 was 48.

There are currently 81,546 people who had close contact with COVID-19 patients or entering Việt Nam from pandemic-hit regions in quarantine, including 472 at hospitals, 14,213 at other facilities, and 66,861 at home.

No deaths have been recorded in the country so far. — VNS