All Da Nang patients in hospital with Covid-19 have been cured and discharged following the last patient being released from the Hoa Vang Field Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Da Nang’s last Covid-19 patient (5th from right) discharged from the Hoa Vang Field Hospital on Wednesday

Life has returned to something like normality in Da Nang. Expansive testing, contact tracing and quarantining have proved successful in stopping the spread of Covid-19 in Da Nang which became the epicentre of the Viet Nam coronavirus pandemic in the second wave of the virus in late July.

On 23 July, Da Nang unexpectedly caught nationwide concerning attention as the city detected its first patient with positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result, making Viet Nam's cases suddenly surged after 99 straight days with no local transmissions.

That unforgettable day started Da Nang’s uncompromising, very tough combat against the virus resurgence. This unexpected blow forced Da Nang government to re-impose strict restrictions on the local population to tackle the virus on 28 July. In particular, 5 days later, the number of coronavirus patients reached a record 45 new daily coronavirus cases, which made the public deeply worried.  Encouragingly, in the space of a few weeks, Da Nang has flattened the curve.

The Da Nang government quickly introduced strict measures to prevent Covid-19 spreading. On 27 July, the Da Nang Lung Hospital officially received the first laboratory-confirmed patient for treatment, and 5 days later, the Tien Son and Hoa Vang field hospitals were put into use to treat Covid-19 patients.

It is worth lauding that medical workforces pulled out all the stops to successfully treat patients hospitalised for coronavirus and bring back critically ill ones from the brink of death, regardless of heavy world overload, hardship, homesickness and looming menace of catching deadly virus.

Doctor Dang Cong Quyt, the Deputy Head of General Internal Medicine - Infection in the Hoa Vang Field Hospital said that 258 Covid-19 patients have been treated in this medical facility as of 23 September, and the figure hit almost 200 here when the city was at the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.

With many drastic solutions, Da Nang has successfully put out its efforts to contain the pandemic. Here is a picture of medical workers taking swab samples from local residents

The city’s last discharged Covid-19 patient said on Wednesday, “Today marks one month and six days since I was diagnosed with Covid-19. Now that I'm healed and could reunite with my family, I am overjoyed”. He expressed his most sincere thanks to all workers in the Hoa Vang Field Hospital for all they have done. In total, the patient had tested positive as many as 19 times during treatment.

For the time being, the Da Nang Lung Hospital and the Hoa Vang Field Hospital are being cleaned and disinfected so that they can come back on stream in treating non-Covid-19 patients from the city and elsewhere in the country.

Vice Chairman of Da Nang People's Committee Deputy Head of the municipal Steering Committee Covid-19 Prevention and Control Le Trung Chinh affirmed that the city’s success in bringing the virus under control has mainly attributed to the great unanimity, solidarity and efforts by the city government and people across the city, plus active support from the national government agencies and other localities nationwide.

Da Nang has reported 23^rd consecutive day with no community transmission.

By PHAN CHUNG – Translated by A.T