Vietnam announced its first death from the coronavirus pandemic on Friday amid a fresh outbreak in cases after reporting no new infections for more than three months.
State-run Vietnam News reported that a 70-year-old man with several underlying medical conditions died of a heart attack Friday morning at Huế Central Hospital in Thua Thien Hue Province, north of Da Nang, where he was being treated for COVID-19.
The man, who suffered from kidney failure and high blood pressure, was admitted to the hospital on July 9 and tested positive for COVID-19 three weeks later and put into isolation.
He was placed on a ventilator on Thursday. His son, daughter and a neighbor who visited him in the hospital have all tested positive for the virus.
Health officials reported 45 new COVID-19 cases in Da Nang on Friday morning and an additional 37 cases Friday evening, according to Vietnam News, bringing the country’s total to 546.
Friday’s count is the largest single-day increase in cases since the pandemic hit the country in January. The country has now seen more than 100 community infections since July 25, when Vietnam recorded its first locally transmitted cases in about three months.
All 45 new cases Friday morning are linked to hospitals and health care facilities, as well as a hotel being used as an isolation facility by a hospital, Vietnam News reported.
The new positive cases include a 29-year-old hospital employee, nine patient family members and 35 patients.
