Ministry issues two scenarios for COVID-19 pandemic

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health (MoH) has issued two scenarios for the COVID-19 pandemic based on the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s studies and scientific grounds.

Phan Trong Lan, Director of the MoH’s General Department of Preventive Medicine, said the first scenario is that the virulence of the Omicron variant will gradually ease while the immunity obtained thanks to COVID-19 vaccination and infections will help bring down the numbers of new and severe cases, as well as fatalities.

In that case, Vietnam will shift to the new normal, which means COVID-19 will become an endemic disease, he noted, adding that if every people is aware of their risks and adopts anti-pandemic measures well, the life will be back to normal, and focus will be put on the elderly and those with comorbidities.

In the second scenario, new variants of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 will continually appear and many reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, spread more quickly, and raise the risk of severity.

If that is the case, urgent anti-pandemic measures will be taken like what were done in the past, Lan went on.

Vietnam now has many “weapons” like vaccines, drugs, treatment experience, and anti-pandemic measures against the pandemic. However, it is necessary to further stay updated with new medications and especially vaccine technology, according to the official.

The MoH said COVID-19 has been basically brought under control nationwide.

So far, the country has recorded more than 10 million infections, including 42,878 deaths - equivalent to 0.4 percent of the total.

The ratio of fatality to morbidity has fallen sharply over the last 30 days, from 0.13 percent to 0.03 percent.

Given the decreased severe cases and deaths, the expanded vaccination coverage, and the continuous drop in new infections worldwide, WHO perceived that COVID-19 will not disappear completely but may soon become an endemic disease./.