Vietnam reported its first death from novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Friday, a 70-year-old man with underlying kidney disease, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control announced.

The patient hailed from Hoi An City in the central province of Quang Nam.

He was admitted to Da Nang Hospital in the namesake central city on July 9 and diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease. He had been getting dialysis up until his death.

The septuagenarian also had other underlying conditions including high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, heart failure and pneumonia.

He tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday, July 27 and was announced Vietnam's 428th COVID-19 patient.

He was transferred to a central hospital in neighboring Hue City on Thursday as his health worsened.

This is the first death associated with COVID-19 in Vietnam, a country of over 95 million with only 509 COVID-19 cases to date.

Ninety-three cases of the respiratory disease have been reported in Vietnam since Saturday last week, when the Southeast Asian country recorded its first community-based transmission since April.

All of the patients — 80 in Da Nang, seven in Quang Nam, one in Quang Ngai, two in Ho Chi Minh City, two in Hanoi, and one in Dak Lak — are linked to Da Nang, which has become an epicenter of COVID-19 in Vietnam.

The coastal tourist city added 45 new infections on Friday morning, Vietnam's biggest single-day jump in cases.

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