Vietnam’s National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control confirmed the 36th COVID-19 death on Saturday, which was recorded in northern Bac Ninh Province.

The 89-year-old woman, recognized as patient No. 3,839, died of underlying health conditions, according to the committee.

She lived in Bac Ninh’s Thuan Thanh District and was a direct contact of patient No. 3,521, who had been quarantined previously.

The test result on Thursday showed that the woman was positive for the novel coronavirus.

She was admitted to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on the same day, where she was diagnosed with severe pneumonia due to COVID-19, progressive respiratory failure with a history of type-2 diabetes, hypertension for many years, and lumbar vertebral collapse - for which she had undergone a surgery on April 6.

Doctors intubated the patient with invasive mechanical ventilation, carried out continuous dialysis, antibiotic and antiviral pneumothorax, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

But as the disease progressed rapidly, the woman died at 2:00 am Saturday with a diagnosis of respiratory failure, severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, hypertension, diabetes, and lumbar vertebra collapse.

This is the 36th virus-related fatality in Vietnam and the first in the latest virus resurgence.

The woman was also the first victim in Vietnam in over eight months after the 35th death was reported on September 3, 2020.

Vietnam has documented 3,854 coronavirus cases, including 2,393 domestic infections, since January 23, 2020, when the pathogen first hit the country.

A total of 823 local cases have been confirmed since April 27.

So far, 2,657 patients have beaten the virus.

The majority of the 36 COVID-19 patients who lost their lives were in senior years and had critical comorbid medical conditions.