Vietnam announced two coronavirus-related deaths, aged 33 and 47, on Monday morning, with both having suffered several serious pre-existing conditions.

The country’s death toll has risen to 13 so far, Nguyen Truong Son, Minister of Health, said from Da Nang, a national outbreak epicenter now.

The first victim was 33 years old and lived in Hai Chau II Ward, Hai Chau District, Da Nang.

She had a history of end-stage chronic renal failure, heart failure, hypertension, and blood poisoning.

She felt fatigue and shortness of breath so she was admitted to Da Nang Hospital on July 23. She was diagnosed with acute pneumonia caused by COVID-19.

She was isolated and sampled for testing. The result came back positive on July 26.

On July 30, she was transferred to Hue Central Hospital, located in Thua Thien-Hue Province around 90km north of Da Nang, where she was given continuous renal replacement therapy as her conditions had deteriorated.

She was intubated and put on mechanical ventilation on August 1 before getting connected to ECMO, a form of out-side-the-body life support, two days later.

Her conditions continued worsening on Sunday and she died at 0:30 on Monday.

The second fatality was a 47-year-old woman residing in Son Tra District, Da Nang.

She had some underlying problems including end-stage chronic kidney failure, heart failure, and hypertension.

On July 27, the woman tested negative for COVID-19 but her second test’s result returned positive on August 4. She was then admitted to the ICU ward of Da Nang Hospital.

She was tranferred to Hoa Vang Medical Center in the eponymous district in Da Nang for treatment on August 6.

At 19:30 on Sunday, the patient suffered critical respiratory failure, was put on a ventilator, intubated, and prescribed sedatives and heart medications.

She died at 1:15 on Monday after having gone into a deep coma.

They are the youngest victims in Vietnam, which has documented 841 coronavirus infections since January 23, when it registered the first-ever patient, the Ministry of Health said.

Thirteen have lost their lives to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, while 395 have beaten the pathogen to date.

Among the dead, two were below 50 years of age, two above 50, and the rest over 60.

All but one had critical pre-existing conditions, as a 55-year-old patient lost her life on Sunday, having merely had a history of hypertension.

The health ministry has confirmed 384 cases traced to Da Nang, a beach city in central Vietnam, since July 25, when the first domestic infection was logged there after Vietnam had gone 99 days without any community transmission.

Two hundred and sixty-nine of those cases have been registered in the coastal city as yet.

The virus has spread from the beach city to 14 other provinces and cities.

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