A medical worker is stationed at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi for taking swab samples
from arrivals, March 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. 

Two female nurses at Hanoi's Bach Mai Hospital are Vietnam's first Covid-19 patients among the medical cadre, raising the country's tally to 87. 

"Patient 87" is a 34-year-old nurse receiving people at the Covid-19 quarantine zone in the hospital's Center for Tropical Diseases. She exhibited symptoms like fatigue, fever and cough on March 18, and tested positive for Covid-19 the same day. She was then quarantined at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Dong Anh District for quarantine and the second test also came back positive on the night of March 19.

"Patient 86" is another nurse working at the HIV Outpatient Clinic of the hospital's Center for Tropical Diseases. The two nurses had come into contact with each other while working.

"Patient 86," 54, had gone with her family on a vacation from Hanoi to Con Dao on March 6 and returned two days later. She went to work as usual on March 9, asymptomatic. She felt some chest tightening on March 11, but had no cough or fever. She was admitted to Bach Mai's Heart Institute for four days to treat hypertension and tightness in the chest.

On March 19, she was discharged from the Heart Institute. But as she was confirmed to have been in close contact with "Patient 87," she was given a Covid-19 test on March 19, and the result came back positive. She tested positive the second time on March 20, and has been quarantined for treatment in the same hospital as the other nurse.

Nurses inside the quarantine room for Covid-19 suspects at
the Center for Tropical Diseases, Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi, January 2020.
Photo courtesy of the hospital.

The Center for Tropical Diseases in Bach Mai has decided to stop receiving in-house patients starting Wednesday night, and two hospital rooms used for health checks and Covid-19 screening would stop operating starting Thursday. In-house patients currently being treated in Bach Mai would be transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Disease. The center has been disinfected.

Those who came in close contact with the nurses have tested negative for the coronavirus once, hospital officials said. They are now quarantined in a separate section of the hospital and will have their health closely monitored for 14 days per protocol.

The quarantine zone of Bach Mai is situated on the first floor. Employees working here are equipped with hats, masks, glasses and clothes, among other protective gear. Patient 87 has worked there since early February.

So far, 17 infected patients in Vietnam have been cured and discharged.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 182 countries and territories, claiming over 10,000 lives.