Vietnam announced 11 COVID-19 recoveries, including the country's oldest patient, on Tuesday morning, taking the number of recovered cases to 232.

The 11 patients include two relapses having retested negative for four times in a row and a person once in a critical condition, according to Suc Khoe & Doi Song (Health & Life), which is the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Health.

Relapse cases usually have the virus' genetic materials in their body, said Nguyen Van Kinh, a senior expert at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

That explains why they retest positive, Kinh said, adding it does not mean the virus is active.

The critical case is a 88-year-old woman, considered Vietnam's oldest COVID-19 patient, who was put on a ventilator in an intensive care unit of the hospital.

She has a history of high blood pressure and brain bleeding, leading to the paralysis of half of her body.

The patient was admitted to the hospital on March 25.

She has tested negative for the novel coronavirus for five times.

She is conscious, has stable vital signs, can eat, and will be transferred to Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi for treatment for her underlying conditions, according to the health ministry. 

All the 11 recovered patients will be monitored for 14 more days, as per the health ministry's regulations. 

Vietnam has confirmed 271 cases so far, with 39 now active and no documented death.

The country's national committee on COVID-19 prevention and control said on Monday night that a recovered patient had died of end-stage live fibrosis last week.

The case, 64-year-old N.V.D., was hospitalized in Ha Nam Province, located in northern Vietnam, on March 20.

He first tested positive for the novel coronavirus on April 7.

The patient was at high risk as he had many pre-existing conditions, including liver fibrosis, gout, and alcoholism, doctors said.

Health workers could not trace back the source of his infection then.

He was transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Disease in Hanoi after his initial treatment in Ha Nam.

The man’s tests returned negative for four times at the hospital in the capital before he was sent back to his hometown for liver fibrosis treatment on April 17.

He died of cirrhosis on Friday last week, the committee said.

The patient retested negative for the virus at a general hospital in Ha Nam upon his death.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!