Inside the SARS-CoV-2 virus lab at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. Photo: T.Ha

Hanoi has just announced that patient number 348 in Bac Tu Liem district is positive again 15 days after discharge. Meanwhile, the central province of Quang Nam has reported that patient number 564 got Covid-19 again after four days of recovery, and Ho Chi Minh City has also found that patients 368, 397, and 1007 are positive with coronavirus again.

Particularly, patient number 930, who had Covid-19 in Russia in June and recovered, on August 10 was tested in Vietnam and showed positive results for SARS-CoV-2.

In the previous outbreak period, Vietnam also reported more than 20 relapse cases.

Are Covid-19 relapse cases in Vietnam dangerous?

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Society of Infectious Diseases, said that it is not new to see relapse cases of covid-19 infection. It is similar to many countries around the world, so people should not be too worried.

According to Kinh, relapse cases in Japan and China did not infect anyone even though they returned to the community. Those who had close contact with these people were also negative. Most of the relapse cases had no clinical signs, and the patients were completely healthy.

“In Vietnam, when the virus taken from relapse cases is re-cultured, the virus does not develop. The F1 cases do not infect with the virus. Our observation shows that the relapse cases have not infected the community,” Prof. Kinh said.

Prof. Kinh said the Realtime RT-PCR test has a sensitivity of up to 98%, but it is only a genetic code test of the virus, not a detection of the whole virus. Therefore, it is more likely that the relapse cases are only ARN fragments of the virus (virus corpse).

Dr. Le Thi Quynh Mai, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, explained that to be transmitted to others, the SARS-CoV-2 virus needs three factors: first, the virus must be healthy; second, it must multiply and have a certain concentration; thirdly, it spreads to the weak, because if the person is healthy, when the virus enters the body, it will be knocked out and destroyed.

However, virus culture results from relapse cases over a week showed no multiplication, and insufficient concentration of infection to cells or amplification on cells, so it is impossible to infect others.

In order to limit relapse cases, in the latest Covid-19 diagnostic and treatment guidelines, the Ministry of Health has raised the standard for announcing that a covid-19 patient is cured: three consecutive negative tests instead of two tests as before.

Thuy Hanh

Hanoi restaurants set up ‘shields’ to prevent COVID-19

Many restaurants throughout Hanoi capital have put up ‘transparent shields’ and arranged seats in a way to maintain a safe distance between customers, in an effort to prevent the possible spread of the virus.

Foreign residents join Da Nang people to fight Covid-19 pandemic

Many foreigners who are living and working in Da Nang are positively contributing to the fight against Covid-19 pandemic in the central city.