Five more people in Vietnam have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, raising the country’s caseload to 464, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Disinfection in Danang. Photo: Zing

The newest cases are residents of Quang Nam, the neighboring province of Danang where the first local transmission outbreak was found last weekend after more than three months without community infection. They are all linked to Danang Hospital.

Since July 25, as many as 48 people have been locally-transmitted, including 34 in Danang, 8 in Quang Nam, two in Hanoi, two in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Quang Ngai and one in Dak Lak.

Of the tally, 276 are imported and quarantined upon arrival and 369 have recovered.

At a consultation with leading doctors and health professionals on Thursday morning, Prof. Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the MOH’s Administration of Medical Examination and Treatment, said some Covid-19 patients are in critical condition.

At present, two patients are connected to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), two need ventilators, and some elderly have pre-existing diseases and have used Corticosteroid for a long time, according to information revealed at the consultation.

The Ministry of Health has sent some groups of experienced doctors to support the treatment of Covid-19 patients in Danang while a group of doctors from Cho Ray Hospital were sent to Danang shortly after the first local infection was found on July 24.

On July 29, the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases where Covid-19 patients are treated admitted 129 Vietnamese people who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Equatorial Guinea.

So far, Vietnam has not added the cases from Equatorial Guinea to its coronavirus tally until they are confirmed by PCR test.