Health workers at a hospital in Hanoi collect specimens for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Patient 1,435, a Vietnamesewoman repatriated from the UK, has been confirmed as the first COVID-19 casewith VOC 202012/01, a recently found and highly contagious variant of thecoronavirus SARS-CoV-2, in Vietnam.
The Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute made theconfirmation on January 2.
Thepatient, born in 1976, was brought home from the UK on Flight VN50, whichlanded at Can Tho International Airport in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho onDecember 22, and was quarantined upon arrival.
She is among the six, out ofthe 305 passengers on board, tested positive for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
TheHCM City Pasteur Institute immediately conducted genetic sequencing on the six patientsand found that Patient 1,435 have been infected with the new variant VOC202012/01, which was recently discovered in the UK.
The woman,having a 10-year history of high blood pressure, is undergoing treatment at theHospital for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases of Tra Vinh province.
Her husband, who is still inthe UK, has also tested positive for the virus.
TranDac Phu, senior adviser to Vietnam’s publichealth emergency operations centre, cited international scientists assaying that the new coronavirus variant in the UK is 70 percent more transmissiblethan existing strains.
It will be very dangerous if early detection and timelyquarantine are absent, he said, warning that the mortality rate is not high,but the more people infected, the more deaths, especially among high-riskgroups like the elderly or those with underlying health conditions.
As the new variant spreads rapidly, strict monitoring of bothillegal and legal entries is needed. A worrying problem now is people who enterthe country illegally, so the public’s coordination with authorities is highlynecessary for ensuring good control of the pandemic, Phu added.
Tohead off the spread of the new virus variant, many European countries and somecountries and territories in Asia like the Philippines, Japan, the Republic ofKorea, and Hong Kong (China) have banned flights from the UK./.
VNA
