Canadian media hails recovery of Case 91 as symbol of Vietnam’s pandemic success

The article entitled “Virus-free UK pilot, symbol of Vietnam's pandemic success, to return home” that was run by CBC.com on July 11 reported that the pilot is Vietnam's most seriously ill COVID-19 patient, who at one point seemed close to death, left hospital on July 11 on his way home after a dramatic recovery that attracted national attention.

It said that the case, a pilot for national carrier Vietnam Airlines, became a sensation in Vietnam, where a combination of targeted testing and an aggressive quarantine programme has kept its coronavirus tally to an impressively low 370 cases, and zero deaths.

The 43-year-old Scot, who arrived in the Southeast Asian country from Britain in early March, was hospitalized three days after his first flight for Vietnam Airlines, following a visit to a bar in Ho Chi Minh City that became linked to a cluster of coronavirus cases.

The article recalled that at one point, medical officials said that he had just 10 percent of his lung capacity and was in critical condition. By early April, Cameron was on a ventilator and life-support machine at Ho Chi Minh City's Hospital of Tropical Diseases. In May, medical officials were saying that he urgently needed a lung transplant. But under round-the clock care, Cameron improved. By June, he no longer required a lung transplant and was taken off life-support.

Earlier in late May, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper also ran a story spotlighting Vietnam’s effective measures of preventing SARS CoV-2 virus from spreading in the community.

In a recent interview with Vietnam News Agency reporters, Thomas Alexander, a Canadian education expert working in Ho Chi Minh City said that he is impressed at the far vision of Vietnamese leaders in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

He held that Vietnamese officials understood the complicated nature of the virus right from the beginning and gave appropriate advice on preventive measures to the community.

Living in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic time, he said that he find himself lucky to be in a right place at the right time./.