Nguyen Thi Nam (R) and Pham Thi Binh are discharged from Binh Xuyen District Hospital,
Vinh Phuc Province, February 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. 

Two women infected with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Vinh Phuc Province left the medical center in Binh Xuyen District Tuesday afternoon. 

After being quarantined and treated for several weeks, Nguyen Thi Nam, 30, and Pham Thi Binh, 42, tested negative for the virus three times in a row and their health was normal, said Nguyen Thanh Hai, health department director of Vinh Phuc, home to most of the new coronavirus infections detected in Vietnam so far.

Nam was among eight workers of Japan-invested Nihon Plast Company sent to train for two months in Wuhan City, epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak. They returned to Vietnam on January 17. Six of them have tested positive for the virus and two others are awaiting test results.

Nam had showed no symptoms of SARS-CoV-2, like fever and cough. She also remained healthy during the quarantine period.

On February 7, she tested positive for the deadly virus.

We are sorry

On her discharge, Nam thanked all the people who had taken care of the new coronavirus patients, and apologized to the community at large.

"We didn’t know and didn’t want to be infected with the virus. We feel sad because we have affected everyone, and making doctors and medical staff take care of us," she said.

Binh had contracted the virus from her neighbor Nguyen Thi Du, another of the eight workers returning from Wuhan. She’d met Du at the latter’s house during the Lunar New Year holiday. Du has already been discharged from the hospital.

Binh developed high fever on January 31 and was quarantined at a local medical center. Blood tests showed was infected.

On Tuesday morning, two other patients, a 55-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man who was among the eight workers returning from Wuhan, were discharged from the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

Eleven of the 16 Covid-19 infections confirmed in Vietnam so far have been in Vinh Phuc. Of the remaining five, three were found in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Khanh Hoa and another in Thanh Hoa. The Health Ministry said Khanh Hoa can declare itself SARS-CoV-2 free after reporting no new infections in the past 30 days, while Thanh Hoa can do so in the next four days.

11 patients in Vietnam have been discharged.

Medical experts have confirmed there is no specific medicine or vaccine to treat the novel coronavirus, though Vietnam has enough capacity, experience and confidence to treat patients.

The WHO said Saturday that Vietnam, which declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a national epidemic on February 1, has responded well to the crisis from the very outset, preventing its spread.

As of Tuesday, the global death toll had climbed to 1,873 and confirmed infections topped 73,000. Nearly 12,000 patients have recovered.