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A 57-year-old woman in Ho Chi Minh City died during transfer between hospitals Monday night before her PRC coronavirus test returned positive.
A resident in Go Vap District, the worst Covid-19 hotspot in HCMC, who suffered diabetes and hypertension, she was taken to Go Vap Hospital on Monday afternoon for emergency aid. The hospital diagnosed her with respiratory failure, pneumonia, multi-organ failure.
Her condition developed worse after being hospitalized and she lost her heartbeat once at Go Vap Hospital.
On late Monday night, she was transferred to the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases but she died on the way.
Following Covid-19 prevention protocols, the Go Vap Hospital had taken samples of her and her husband for the new coronavirus test upon arrival.
Her test result arrived positive shortly after her death. Her husband also tested positive and has been admitted to the tropical disease hospital.
The Ministry of Health has yet to confirm either of them as Covid-19 cases and their source of transmission remains unclear.
Go Vap is currently the Covid-19 center of HCMC, starting with a cluster that emerged on May 26 from a Christian congregation based in the district.
Infections from this cluster have spread to 21 out of 22 city districts and to other localities in Vietnam’s southern and Central Highlands regions.
The city last week recorded its first Covid-19 death, of a 37-year-old woman who also suffered from chronic kidney failure and had gone through dialysis for six years.
With 25 more new cases confirmed on Tuesday, the southern metropolis has become the locality with the third highest number of local Covid-19 infections during Vietnam’s latest coronavirus wave, at 447, after Bac Giang and Bac Ninh.
This article was originally published in VNExpress