Vietnam detected 14 more coronavirus cases on March 29, including six linked to Bach Mai Hospital, taking the country’s count to 188.

Inside the National Hospital for Tropical Disease in Hanoi. Photo: Nguyen Khanh/Tuoitre

Six out of the additional cases are in connection with Bach Mai Hospital, the largest hospital in Vietnam. They are patients No.175, 176, 177, 178, and 188, including a patient who was treated at Bach Mai and staff working for Truong Sinh Company which supplies food for Bach Mai.

So far, 18 coronavirus patients are linked to this hospital.

The remaining includes one French visitor, one journalist who was infected with the virus when conducting an interview with a Covid-19 patient (who was not confirmed at that time), and six Vietnamese nationals coming from Russia, France, the UK, the US, and Thailand.

The newly-dectected cases have lifted up the number of infection in Hanoi to 69 and 46 in Ho Chi Minh City, the two biggest coronavirus hot spots in Vietnam.

Regarding Bach Mai Hospital, the hospital’s Deputy Director Duong Duc Hung said at an online meeting in Sunday afternoon that over 5,000 out of 7,000 samples taken at the hospital (from medical staff, patients, and patients’ relatives) have tested negative for the virus.

The remaining will be announced soon.

Bach Mai Hospital was put under lockdown on March 28.

However, the quarantine of all medical workers in the hospital has caused troubles in their life and taking care patients, Hung said.

The hospital is now housing to 793 inpatients, of them 353 would be discharged, 137 could be transferred, and 198 others are in critical conditions, he added.

According to the hospital’s Director Nguyen Quang Tuan, the hospital has maintained the operations of Hemodialysis Ward. Patients coming to this ward to a section separate from the other ones of the hospital. After the treatment, the patients have been supervised by local authorities.

Bach Mai houses the largest hemodialysis center in Vietnam.