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By James Pearson and Phuong Nguyen
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HANOI (Reuters) – A British pilot in Vietnam stricken with COVID-19 who at one point seemed close to death has almost fully recovered and is in a position to be discharged from hospital, a Vietnamese medical official said on Wednesday.
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The case of Stephen Cameron has attracted national attention in Vietnam, where a combination of targeted testing and aggressive quarantine has kept its coronavirus tally to an impressively low 335 cases, and zero deaths.
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“The patient can leave now, but the most important thing is that he practises physical therapy,” said Luong Ngoc Khue, a health ministry official, according to a government Statement.
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The 43-year-old Scot arrived in Vietnam from Britain in early March to work for Vietnam Airlines, according to state media. He was one of 19 people who visited a bar in Ho Chi Minh City on March 13 where a cluster of coronavirus cases was discovered, and was initially identified as “Patient 91”.
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On March 17, he piloted his first flight for Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi, the capital. Three days later, he was hospitalised with COVID-19 symptoms.
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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 said the disease had reduced his lung capacity to 10% and that he urgently needed a lung transplant.
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With the vast majority of Vietnam\\\’s COVID-19 patients already recovered, the news of a potential first death prompted a national outpouring of support, with dozens of people coming forward as potential lung donors.
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Weeks later, however, Cameron regained consciousness after his condition began to improve. He was taken off life support and will soon no longer require assistance from a ventilator to breathe, according to state media, and he no longer needs a lung transplant, said Luong Ngoc Khue.
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In footage released on Wednesday, Cameron could be seen posing with a yellow and red Motherwell Football Club scarf as he met local officials and a British diplomat.
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“I told him that he would be soon healthy enough to return to England,” Khue said. “He replied, very quickly, that he was from Scotland.”($1 = 23,196.0000 dong)
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(Reporting by James Pearson and Phuong Nguyen with additional reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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