Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Economic Recovery Pham Duc Hai speaks at the press brief (Photo: SGGP)
On the afternoon of January 27, Ho Chi Minh City's Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Economic Recovery held a press conference to provide information on the epidemic situation in the area and issues of public interest presided by Deputy Head of the Steering Committee Pham Duc Hai.
In its proposal to the municipal People’s Committee, the Department of Health suggested that people who have high levels of coronavirus will be transferred to three-story field hospitals while those with moderate symptoms will be transferred to No. 12 Field Hospital or a qualified private hospital.
Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Hai said that the city's epidemic prevention and control work has increasingly achieved good results. However, people should keep continued vigilance to the pandemic and synchronously implement solutions to avoid unexpected situations.
As of 6 pm on January 26, the southern largest city has reported 513,968 cases of Covid-19 announced by the Ministry of Health, including 513,132 infections in the community and 836 imported cases.
Currently, roughly 2,107 patients are being treated in hospitals including 39 children under 16 years old, 170 critically ill patients on ventilators, 14 patients with ECMO intervention. On January 26, there were 98 hospitalizations, 260 recoveries and 11 deaths.
Deputy Director of the Center for Disease Control of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Hong Tam said that so far, Ho Chi Minh City has detected 92 cases of Covid-19 infected with the Omicron variant, 87 of them are people from foreign countries entering Vietnam and five community cases are all related to an imported case with the Omicron variant.
Furthermore, 185 close contacts have been traced. Until now, this cluster of cases has been temporarily controlled.
Answering the question of whether Ho Chi Minh City has achieved herd immunity or not, Chief of the Office of the city Department of Health Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai said that herd immunity is confirmed when enough vaccines have been given to all people in the area.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has not been able to vaccinate all residents specifically children under 12 years old, so it has not reached the community epidemic area according to epidemiological theory.
Chief of the Office of the city Department of Health Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai
According to Ms. Huynh Mai, although the number of cases in Ho Chi Minh City has been low and the number of deaths in recent days has been reducing to single digit and is gradually decreasing. However, the city continues to guide and encourage people to thoroughly implement 5K to perform well in disease prevention.
Along with that, Ho Chi Minh City will continue to drastically implement vaccination, especially booster and third dose for people to increase herd immunity.
According to Ms. Huynh Mai, the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to consider and approve the extension of isolation types for immigrants with positive test results for SARS-CoV-2.
People who have high levels of coronavirus will be transferred to three-story field hospitals while those with moderate symptoms will be transferred to No. 12 field hospital or a qualified private hospital. People with mild symptoms or no symptoms will be isolated at home if they wish and commit to meet the conditions for home isolation and comply with isolation regulation.
In case patients under self-isolation at home, show signs of worsening, their relatives should phone the local health station, mobile medical station, or emergency center 115 to transfer the patient to field hospitals.
When an immigrant has a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 at the airport needs and is eligible for home isolation, the International Health Quarantine Department (under HCDC) enters the entry information on the Covid-19 number platform and sends quick notification by phone to the local medical center and Thu Duc City where immigrants will be isolated.
