Vietnam’s National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control confirmed the 43rd coronavirus-related fatality, a 50-year-old man with a history of cirrhosis, on Monday morning.

The victim, previously identified as COVID-19 patient No. 3,015, suffered from serious liver disease after years of drinking.

One week before his admission to hospital, the patient had high fever, chills, yellow skin and eyes, abdominal distension, and digestive disorders. 

Hai Duong General Hospital in the namesake northern province carried out a positive blood culture on the patient and gave him a five-day antibiotic therapy.

But the man showed no improvement and was transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on April 25 with the diagnosis of sepsis and cirrhotic ascites.

On May 5, the patient tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The patient was actively resuscitated with mechanical ventilation and treated with continuous dialysis, antibiotics, blood transfusion, diuretics, choleretics, and laxatives but exhibited no improvement. 

The patient’s condition gradually deteriorated with septic shock, gastrointestinal bleeding, increasing ascites, and multiple-organ failure.

On May 21, the national medical expert council concluded that the patient’s condition was critical, with many serious underlying diseases and a high mortality risk.

The patient continued to receive intensive care with anti-shock therapy, mechanical ventilation, continuous dialysis, blood transfusion, a combination of broad-spectrum antibiotics, antifungal medicines, and parenteral nutrition. 

However, the man kept having a persistently high fever and a refractory shock that was unresponsive to therapeutic measures.

He passed away on Sunday night.

The cause of his death was identified as septic shock, multiple-organ failure, sepsis, gastrointestinal bleeding, coronavirus infection, along with cirrhosis and ascites.

This is the 43rd coronavirus-related fatality that Vietnam has recorded since the beginning of the pandemic and the eight since the start of 2021.

Nearly 20 other COVID-19 patients in the country are also seriously ill.

Vietnam has recorded 5,275 COVID-19 cases as of Monday morning, with 2,721 recoveries and 43 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has documented 2,221 local infections in 30 provinces and cities since April 27.

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