A cartridge showing a positive test result for COVID-19. (Photo: VNA) In December 2023, nearly 10,000deaths from COVID-19 were reported worldwide while the number of hospitalised casessurged 42% from the previous month. New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus havecontinuously changed, and sub-variant JN.1 is spreading rapidly around theglobe, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The US, China, and some Europeancountries have recorded the re-emergence of COVID-19 infections as well as the transmissionof other respiratory illnesses like seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus.
In Vietnam, the northern region isnow in the transitional period between winter and spring, when cold and dry weatheris alternated with wet weather, triggering infectious diseases, especiallyrespiratory ones. Meanwhile, the numbers of cases suffering from otherinfectious diseases like dengue fever, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and someothers which have already had vaccines have also been on the rise in manyplaces, the department pointed out.
Itwarned that the coming Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays and spring festive season,when trading and travel demand surges, along with abnormal weather changes arefavourable conditions for diseases to spread, particularly among children withweak immunity and the elderly with comorbidities, who are more vulnerable toinfectious diseases.
Giventhis, the Department of Preventive Medicine asked provincial-level departmentsof health to propose their provinces and cities’ administrations soon issueplans on infectious disease prevention and control for 2024. They were alsotold to engage all local sectors and socio-political organisations in the work,especially during Tet.
Inparticular, local health departments were demanded to order grassroots healthunits like disease control centres and preventive medicine bodies keep a closewatch on the disease situation and the increase in infections of respiratory illnessesand severe cases of viral pneumonia.
They need to maintain constantmonitoring to detect infections early so as to make timely response, controltransmission, and minimise severe cases and deaths, the Department ofPreventive Medicine added, requesting the expanded programme on immunisation beproperly maintained./.
VNA
