Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has signed a dispatch directing ministers, heads of ministerial-level and State agencies, and chairmen of People’s Committees of centrally-run cities and provinces to strengthen measures to prevent the spreading of COVID-19 during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival and the festive season of 2023.
Up to 98.7% of people in HCM City have antibodies to COVID-19, which developed after the unprecedented wave of infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant in early March, according to data from HCM City’s Department of Health.
Vietnam is likely to face great challenges if it announces the state is COVID-19-free because the people will be less vigilant to the pandemic in the face of more dangerous variants of SARS-CoV-2, according to Prof. Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Health Ministry's Department of Preventive Medicine.
The Ministry of Health has issued a guidance on the wearing of masks in public places for COVID-19 prevention and control, clarifying to who and where it is a must.
The national COVID-19 caseload rose to 11,396.205 with 3,342 new cases recorded on the past 24 hours to 4pm August 25, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health has proposed continuing to keep COVID-19 in Group A of infectious disease, not an endemic disease in its latest draft on COVID-19 prevention and control measures in the new situation.
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 have entered Vietnam and may overwhelm the old sub-lineage BA.2, the dominant variant of concern in the country, according to Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Health Ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine.
Although the COVID-19 has been put under good control inside the country, it is necessary to focus on preventing the pandemic from re-emerging as no persons, localities or countries are safe when others are struggling against COVID-19, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on July 5 stated.
In Vietnam, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron with mild clinical symptoms is currently the dominant strain. However, there is now a risk that BA.5, a new sub-variant, will dominate the more ancient strains on the COVID-19 landscape in Vietnam.