Vietnam’s recovered COVID-19 patient tests positive one day after arriving home

A recovered patient has been hospitalized again in Hanoi after he had retested positive for the novel coronavirus just one day from his arrival at home.

He is receiving care at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the capital, Pham Ngoc Thach, director of the hospital, confirmed on Friday.

The patient, numbered 137, started his treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, at the hospital on March 25.

He was declared free of the pathogen on April 7 after testing negative for two consecutive times.

The patient was still quarantined at the same hospital from April 7 to 21, as per Ministry of Health regulations.

He came home in Nghe An Province, located in north-central Vietnam, on Wednesday.

But he was admitted to the hospital again on Thursday following a positive retest.

This is the third patient to have retested positive after having recovered from the disease, Thach said.

The virus may have been under control in the body cells but a test can still find its remains, he explained.

So the result would be positive but the patient is not contagious then, he underlined.

The relapse may also be related to a patient’s viral load issues and doctors are looking into this hypothesis, Thach added.

Patient No. 137’s sample has been sent to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi for further testing.

Health workers are tracing his contacts for quarantine.

Vietnam has confirmed 268 COVID-19 cases so far, with 224 having recovered.

No death associated with the novel coronavirus has been reported in the Southeast Asian country to date.

The central government started relaxing social distancing restrictions on Thursday, as infection rates have become slower since April 4.

Vietnam has recorded zero additional patients since April 17.

But Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who chairs the National Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control, said on Friday that everyone should not be complacent and should continue taking preventive measures, as there can still be undetected cases in the community.

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