Vice President Kamala Harris was delayed from departing on a trip to Vietnam after the State Department issued a warning of a “possible anomalous health incident” in the country’s capital of Hanoi.
“Earlier this evening, the vice president’s traveling delegation was delayed from departing Singapore because the vice president’s office was made aware of a report of a recent possible anomalous health incident in Hanoi, Vietnam,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement Tuesday. “After careful assessment, the decision was made to continue with the vice president’s trip.”
As both CNN and Bloomberg point out, the State Department has used the phrase “anomalous health incidents” to describe the mysterious Havana Syndrome, which in the past has left dozens of U.S. diplomats and other intelligence officials feeling ill.
Havana Syndrome gets its name from its first known emergence in Havana, Cuba, in 2016 after dozens of U.S. Embassy staff suffered symptoms like headaches, dizziness, tinnitus and visual and hearing problems. Since then, The New York Times reported that more than 130 other U.S. officials have experienced the bizarre illness, leading to questions over whether U.S. personnel are being targeted and, if so, by whom. So far, the U.S. intelligence community has not been able to provide those answers.
Harris was eventually cleared to depart from Singapore to Hanoi after a three-hour delay.