British Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City Ian Gibbons has sent a letter to the Ho Chi Minh City leadership and medical staff, expressing his gratitude for the city’s support for and treatment of British citizens ill with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to the municipal Department of External Relations.

“I am writing to express my gratitude for the support extended by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, External Relations Office, Department of Health, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, hospitals and quarantine camps to our British nationals over the past 12 weeks," Gibbons said in his letter dated May 21 and addressed to city chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong.

He noted that despite being in a complex situation of public health emergency, the city’s designated agencies have dealt with a number of enquiries from the British Consulate General and other consulates with patience and professionalism.

The diplomat said the British Consulate General has received useful and informative guidance, enabling it to seek support from hospitals and quarantine centers for British nationals.

“We are deeply grateful to the doctors, nurses, and medical teams at Cu Chi Field Hospital and Can Gio Hospital for taking care of our nationals,” Gibbons wrote.

He especially extended his sincere thanks to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Cho Ray Hospital for having taken such excellent care of a British man known as Vietnam’s COVID-19 patient No. 91.

“They have worked tirelessly and spared no efforts in helping him during the time he has been critically ill in hospital. […] We could not have asked for better treatment.”

The Briton, a Vietnam Airlines pilot, is the most severe COVID-19 case in Vietnam. 

The 43-year-old man was diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-March.

He was transferred to Cho Ray Hospital from the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Disease last week, awaiting a lung transplant believed to be the only viable way to save his life.

He is now able to perform simple movements on command after doctors took him off sedation.

Twenty UK citizens have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Vietnam to date, of whom 18 have been declared recovered from the disease, according to a tally kept by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health and counted by Tuoi Tre News.

The only two British nationals in treatment are patients No. 91 and patient No. 271, an expert working for state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam, who entered the country on April 28 on a charter flight and was quarantined upon arrival.

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