Vietnam needs to prepare worst-case scenario for COVID-19: health official

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The worst-case scenarios in the fight against COVID-19 should be prepared so as to ensure that Vietnam will not have to experience the worst, according to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son.

At an online conference on response to COVID-19 emergencies on May 11, Son stressed that strictly following the directions of the Prime Minister and the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention on pandemic prevention and switching from defence to proactive attacking is the best way to prevent the worst.

COVID-19 has become extremely serious in Vietnam as well as other countries worldwide in recent days, he said.

Director of the Health Ministry’s Department for Medical Examination and Treatment Luong Ngoc Khue said that the ministry has lifted the pandemic prevention warning to the highest level, and ordered COVID-19 testing in hospitals.

At the event, participants discussed social distancing and quarantine procedures in hospitals, COVID-19 treatment hospitals, as well as strategies on testing, infection control and safe vaccination.

Soldiers from the Vietnamese army's chemical division disinfects the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Dong Anh district, Hanoi. (Photo: VNA)

The COVID-19 tally in the nation stood at 3,571 as of 6am on May 12, with 34 new cases, including 33 local infections and one imported, recorded in the 12 hours as of 6am on May 12.

There are 67,877 people under quarantine nationwide at present.

On May 11, an additional 20,732 people in 36 provinces and cities were vaccinated against COVID-19, raising the total getting the jabs to 887,705 as of 4pm on the day./.

VNA