A 30-year-old woman residing in Phuc Tho district who returned from Danang, the country’s largest pandemic epicenter, has been identified as Hanoi’s fourth Covid-19 case, Kinh Te & Do Thi reported, citing Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung.

At a city meeting on August 7, Mr. Chung said that the patient and seven family members visited Danang from July 24 to 27. The patient said she stayed at No.17 Duong Dinh Nghe street in Danang, visited the beach and Linh Ung pagoda in Son Tra district.

Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

According to Director of Phuc Tho district Medical Center Trinh The Hung, the patient self-isolated at home from July 27. On August 1, her quick test was negative.

On August 6, the patient developed a fever. RT-PCR test on her samples of oropharyngeal fluid showed that she was coronavirus positive. The patient is being treated at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

Mr. Hung said that Phuc Tho district is home to 850 returnees from Danang from July 8 up to now. All have obtained negative results from rapid testing. However, the district’s authorities still recommended they stay at home for 14-day.

The surroundings of the female patient were supervised and disinfected. The district’s authorities are also tracing and making a list of people who made close contact with the patient.

Since July 25, Hanoi has recorded four Covid-19 patients returning from Danang. The authorities have identified more than 300 people exposed to the four Covid-19 patients and put them under quarantine.

The accuracy of Covid-19 quick test is only from 60% to 75%, so suspected cases tested negative for the coronavirus could still pose risk of transmission in the community, the Hanoi mayor said. Therefore, Hanoi will conduct Covid-19 testing with the RT-PCR method from August 7 on all returnees from Danang.

From now until August 12, Hanoi is at high risk of coronavirus transmission in the community, thus the city needs to raise the Covid-19 alert to a higher level, everyone has to be vigilant and keep up with preventive measures, Mr. Chung stressed.