Health ministry calls for facilitation of people’s return to hometowns

A woman and her child prepare to board a train to come home at the Saigon Train Station in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministryof Health has asked provinces and cities nationwide to create favourable conditionsfor people to return to their hometowns to welcome the Lunar New Year (Tet), citingthe large coverage of COVID-19 vaccination.

The ministry made the request in a documentsent to the People’s Committees of provincial-level localities on January 22.

It noted that 100 percent of the peopleaged 18 and above have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines, 95.6percent the second, and 18.6 percent the third. Meanwhile, 94.1 percent ofthe children aged 12 - 17 have been given at least one dose, and 82.2 percentthe second dose.

The ministry also requested localitiesto increase monitoring and promptly detect suspected cases in the community so asto take timely action to curb the spread.

By the end of January 21, a total of 174,965,411 doses of COVID-19 vaccines wereadministered in the country, including 78,843,924 being the first dose, 73,764,594the second, and 22,356,893 the third./.

VNA