HCM City to close largest COVID ICU as severe case numbers fall sharply

HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The HCM City Department of Health has recommended that the People’s Committee should close down the 1,000-bed COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Thu Duc city saying there are few severely ill patients.

The city’s largest COVID ICU would be handed back to the newly built branch of the HCM City Oncology Hospital, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, chief of the department office, told a meeting on February 10.

Patients at the facility would be transferred to the COVID-19 treatment hospitals Nos. 14 and 16 for treatment, she said.

The treatment hospitals Nos. 6, 8 and 12 would also be closed, she said.

The department has told the People’s Committee it wants to keep field hospitals Nos. 13, 14 and 16 open along with quarantine and treatment facilities set up at some hospitals, industrial parks and export processing zones, she said.

After the closures, 1,000 ICU beds would be available at Cho Ray Hosptial, the Hospital for Tropical Disease and treatment hospitals Nos. 14 and 16, she said.

But the closed facilities could be reopened within 24 hours if needed, she assured.

Health officials have warned that infections are likely to spike in the city in the next few days following the Lunar New Year celebrations and the return of holidaymakers from other cities and provinces.  

But severe cases and deaths are expected to remain low due to the high vaccination rates and excellent quality of treatment.

The city will speed up administration of the third dose of vaccines to increase the coverage to more than 80 percent of its population.

Now only 618 COVID patients are under treatment, including 88 severely ill ones on ventilators and 13 others with ECMO intervention.

The city has detected 92 people infected with the Omicron variant./.