120 workers with COVID-19 from Equatorial Guinea to be treated

120 workers with COVID-19 from Equatorial Guinea to be treated

The hospital has made adequate preparations and is ready to receive large numbers of COVID-19 patients late this month, said Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach, director of the hospital. 

Viet Nam Airlines is scheduled to send an aircraft to evacuate 219 Vietnamese guestworkers, including 120 with COVID-19, from Equatorial Guinea on July 29. 

He said the hospital will dispatch two doctors and two orderlies together with two ventilators and other necessary equipment to protect the workers’ health during the journey. 

All 120 infected passengers and the crew will be quarantined and treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases upon arrival, and it will be the highest number of Covid-19 patients the hospital has had to treat at the same time, Thach said.

According to the Ministry of Health, doctors will keep a close watch on 46 out of 120 COVID-19 workers who suffer underlying illnesses such as stomach ulcers, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and bronchitis. 

Among the 120 infected, three have recovered while the rest are still positive with the coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Health. Several have symptoms like cough, throat pain, headache or fever. Forty-six have chronic diseases, including high blood pressure and peptic ulcers.

In the last few months, Viet Nam has repatriated thousands of its citizens from around the world, including the U.S., the Republic of Korea, Africa and South Asia.

Early in July, more than 200 Vietnamese workers in Equatorial Guinea had sent a letter to Vietnamese representative agencies in Angola, asking for help as they were in distress. Many of them were confirmed to have carried the virus. 

They are working at Sendje hydropower plant in Equatorial Guinea under labour contracts between Duglas Alliance Ltd of the UK and three Vietnamese companies, Tan Dai Loi, CMVIETNAM and LILAMA 10.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport to work with Vietnamese representative agencies in Angola and relevant agencies in Equatorial Guinea to bring home the workers at the earliest possible time./.

By Vien Nhu