Ho Chi Minh City documented on Wednesday the first-ever coronavirus-related death, a woman who had suffered end-stage chronic renal failure.

H.T.M., a 37-year-old patient, was pronounced dead at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases on Wednesday, Dr. Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, director of the hospital, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The cause of her death was confirmed as serious COVID-19, septic shock, heart failure, hypertension, and end-stage chronic renal failure.

This is the first virus-related fatality the city has ever recorded since the pandemic first hit Vietnam on January 23, 2020.

M. belonged to an infection cluster of five patients detected on May 21, including a noodle soup vendor in District 3, three of her children, and a grandchild.

She tested positive on May 24 before being admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases one day later.

Local health authorities have tested 1,382 in relation to this cluster but found no more transmission from it.

The UK variant of the coronavirus was detected in this infection chain, according to genome sequencing results.

Vietnam announced 53 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday morning, taking its cumulative tally to 7,625 patients, according to the Ministry of Health.

Recoveries have reached 3,043 while the death toll has hit 48. The health ministry has yet to count M. in the death toll.

Vietnam has fought four virus waves so far, the latest being the worst.

The country has been struggling with the fourth wave since April 27, with 4,549 domestic cases reported.

Ho Chi Minh City has logged 227 infections in this round, 219 of which were traced back to a religious mission in Go Vap District.

The southern city reinstated enhanced social distancing on Monday, slated to last for 15 days. Non-essential businesses have been closed while the elderly are advised to stay home.

The nation confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021. 

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