A 29-year-old American woman who was placed in isolation at the Police Hospital No 199 in Da Nang’s Son Tra District, escaped from the hospital on Monday morning. Soon after, local police officers found her and returned her to the hospital.

Dr Truong Xuan Hung from the hospital said the foreign female tourist has been named as Danielle Smith and she arrived in Da Nang on 13 February after travelling to China and Taiwan (China).

He added, on Monday morning, the American woman came to the Son Tra District Medical Centre for a health checkups as she was suffering from a cough and fever, typical symptoms of Covid-19.

The centre’s doctors decided to send her to the Police Hospital No 199 for quarantine following the Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s guidelines for suspected coronavirus cases.

However, the American woman fled from the hospital at around 9am on Monday. Local police found her one hour later in Phuoc My Ward, Son Tra District, and took her back to the Police Hospital No 199.

Also on Monday, staff of the municipal Centre for Disease Control took her throat swab and blood serum samples to test for the virus. As a result, her tests came back negative.

Despite her negative results, the American woman remains under quarantine at the hospital to monitor her health.

By PHAN CHUNG - Translated by MAI DUNG