Two patients with serious underlying health conditions have passed away as the two latest COVID-19 deaths in Vietnam since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020.

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Sunday announced the 85th and 86th fatalities, both in northern Vietnam.

The latest death happened to a 64-year-old man of Hung Yen Province, who was a nasopharyngeal cancer patient at Hanoi-based Tan Trieu K Hospital, where he had received chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

The man was transferred to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, also in Hanoi, on June 8, after having fever and coughing. He was then diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Eight days later, the man suffered increased progressive respiratory failure and was treated with an endotracheal tube.

His health condition did not improve and he died on Friday.

The death was attributed to COVID-19 pneumonia with complications of bacteremia and septic shock.

The 85th victim, an 81-year-old woman of Bac Ninh Province, was taken to the provincial General Hospital on May 24 after she experienced coughing and difficulty breathing. 

The woman, with a history of hypertension and stroke, was diagnosed with severe pneumonia due to COVID-19 and was then treated with oxygen therapy and various types of medicines.            

Two days later, due to increased respiratory failure, she was transferred to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, where she was put on a ventilator through an endotracheal tube and was given various therapies and comprehensive care.

Due to her old age and poor response to treatment, she died on Friday of septic shock, blood fungal infection, COVID-19 pneumonia with complications of respiratory failure.

The Ministry of Health at noon on Sunday confirmed 260 new coronavirus cases, including 254 domestic and six imported infections, of which 213 cases were detected in Ho Chi Minh City, which has recently led the country in daily new infections.

The latest cases have taken the country’s caseload to 19,570, including 7,643 recoveries and 86 deaths, since early 2020.

Since April 27, when the pandemic’ fourth wave appeared in Vietnam, the country has documented 16,146 infections.

Most of the virus-related deaths were recorded in aged patients with underlying health conditions.

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