A medical worker performs Covid-19 tests on several samples of suspected
infection cases in a laboratory in Nghe An Province, April 2020. Photo by VnExpress. 

A student repatriated from the U.K. is free of Covid-19, bringing Vietnam’s active cases down to 21, the Health Ministry said Monday. 

The 22-year-old resident of Hanoi had returned to Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport on Vietnam Airlines repatriation flight VN50 on June 4. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus on June 5 and was treated at the city's Cu Chi field hospital.

He has tested Covid-19 negative several times before the confirmation of his recovery.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s most critical Covid-19 patient, a 43-year-old British pilot being treated at HCMC’s Cho Ray Hospital, will need another 2-3 weeks at least before he can move around safely, doctors said during a prognosis discussion Monday afternoon.

The 43-year-old British pilot drinks water with a straw in HCMC's Cho Ray Hospital.
Photo courtesy of the Cho Ray Hospital.

With unstinting efforts by Vietnamese doctors, the pilot has staged a "miraculous" recovery, regaining consciousness after being comatose on life support for more than two months. On Monday, he is able to breathe and eat on his own.

He had been moved to the Cho Ray hospital after recovering from the Covid-19 infection. He is undergoing physical and psychological therapy, having his nutrition intake increased and remains under close medical observation.

While the patient, who has been hospitalized for more than three months, can be discharged from the ICU, plans to take him back home to the U.K. can only be implemented once all safety requirements regarding his health, transportation and reception in the U.K. are met, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son has said.

Vietnam recorded no new Covid-19 cases Monday. The country has so far confirmed 349 infections of which 328 have recovered. The nation has recorded no community transmission of the virus for over two months.