COVID caseload surpasses 10,000, Vietnam strives to curb the pandemic

(Photo: Hoang Hung/VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - June 12 marks a new milestone when Vietnam reached more than 10,000 cases of COVID-19.

After more than a month implementing drastic measures, Vietnam basically controlled COVID-19 pandemic. This is the result of the ceaseless efforts of all forces to keep the number of cases as low as possible compared to many countries in the world.

The most severe outbreak

On the morning of June 12, Vietnam recorded 10,048 COVID-19 cases, including 1,630 imported cases and 8,418 domestic cases. In particular, the number of new cases from April 27 until now is 6,848 - double the total number of the previous three waves, equivalent to nearly 16 months.

In this fourth outbreak, 23 more patients died, including young people without other diseases. The number of localities recording new cases was the widest, with 38 provinces and cities. The virus’ transmissibility is so quick that in Ho Chi Minh City, an F5 became an F0.

According to Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, the new variant of SARS-COV2 has a very fast spreading speed. According to experts, the British variant is 1.7 times more contagious than the previous strain. The India variant, however, is even 1.4 times higher than the British strain.

In addition, clinically speaking, patients’ health conditions become severe more quickly than those in the previous outbreaks, concerning the health sector, Long noted.

Photo: Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province spray disinfection in Trung Dong village, Van Trung commune, where people are not allowed to leave their homes because of social distancing. (Photo: Danh Lam/VNA)

Holding the reins of COVID-19 with creativity

In the face of increasingly complex and unpredictable developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, since the first outbreak in Vietnam, the Politburo, the Party Central Committee Secretariat, the Government, and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control have been drawing out fundamental guidelines to prevent and control the pandemic more effectively in the near future.

Photo: Doctors treat patients with COVID-19. (Photo: Vietnam+)

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control has requested the Ministry of Health and relevant agencies to complete the scenario and be prepared for dealing with bad situations.

Statistics from the Worldometers.info shows Vietnam is currently ranked 158th among countries and territories with confirmed COVID-19 cases as of June 12.

Photo: Bac Giang province sets up field hospital No. 2 with 620 beds. (Photo: Danh Lam/VNA)

Under the direction of the Prime Minister, during this outbreak, Vietnam has made "tactical" innovations by moving to proactively attack with a vaccine strategy.

The Minister of Health said that synchronous measures have been implemented in cities and provinces, combining effectively defense and attack.

Photo: Nano Covax vaccine phase 3 trial (Photo: Minh Quyet/VNA)

In particular, in this fourth COVID-19 wave, Vietnam has deployed large scale testing, with the testing speed increased. From April 27 to now, Vietnam has taken 1,957,231 samples for 4,266,651 turns of people.

Regarding treatment, the health sector has set up field hospitals, established intensive care units in localities to follow the motto "Four on-the-spots" in accordance with the direction of the National Steering Committee. A large number of health workers in all provinces and cities and universities has also been mobilised to support hot spots in a very short time.

This fourth outbreak also marks many changes in anti-epidemic measures in Vietnam. Vietnam aims to achieve herd immunity by 2021 with 70 percent of the population vaccinated. Currently, the Ministry of Health is continuing to search and negotiate to have enough 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, to ensure herd immunity, and people will soon return to normal life.

According to Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, over the past time, with the close direction of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, the Prime Minister, the National Steering Committee as well as the participation of ministries, agencies and especially all localities, up to now, the situation has been basically under control, the number of cases last week was lower than that of the previous week.

In the future, it is forecast that the situation will be more complicated and unpredictable. To be more proactive in epidemic prevention and control, the health sector and relevant units continue to be proactive in plans and scenarios to promptly respond to all situations./.