The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has just issued the 7^th edition of its guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients for all medical facilities nationwide, including updated criteria for discharging confirmed COVID-19 patients from hospitals as follows:

For asymptomatic patients: 10 days after positive test for SARS-CoV-2, plus a negative RT-PCR test or low viral loads on their 9^th day of treatment period.

For symptomatic patients: 14 days after symptoms onset, plus no fever for 3 days ahead of hospital discharge and a negative RT-PCR test or a low viral load.

For patients with COVID-19 who are isolated for medical treatment for more than 10 days and have repeated RT-PCR test results with cycle threshold (Ct) in SARS-CoV-2 < 30: 21 days after positive test for SARS-CoV-2, plus no fever for 3 days ahead of hospital discharge.

Previously, patients with COVID-19 were permitted to be released from hospitals after having tested negative for the virus by RT-PCR method two times in a row. As such, the freshly-issued guidelines by the Ministry of Health have helped to reduce the number of COVID-19 tests when determining hospital discharge criteria for COVID-19 patients.

Reporting by T.V (under the Ministry of Health’s guidelines) - Translating by M.D