Ministry urges genome sequencing of imported people infected with Covid-19
The Ministry of Health yesterday sent an urgent dispatch to people's committees of provinces and cities, institutes of hygiene and epidemiology, the Pasteur Institute on guidance on monitoring and prevention of Covid-19 variant Omicron.
In addition, local governments and agencies must coordinate with institutes of hygiene and epidemiology, the Pasteur Institute to assess the epidemiology and sort coronavirus test samples for genomic sequencing.
The Pasteur Institute and institutes of hygiene and epidemiology have been required to receive samples of suspected and potentially dangerous Omicron variants from provinces and cities for genetic sequencing testing as well as simultaneously closely coordinate with localities to actively monitor new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Vietnam.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Health emphasized that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is not yet detected in Vietnam, but the Omicron Covid-19 variant has a high chance of entering the Southeast Asian country.
Therefore, in its dispatch, the Ministry of Health requested people's committees in provinces and cities to direct departments, agencies, and political and social organizations to check all arrivals from foreign countries from November 28 with positive results for SARS-CoV-2 to promptly monitor and implement preventative measures to curb cases of Omicron variant into the country.
If a person is detected to be positive for the Omicron variant, health care workers and responsible agencies must take test samples of those who have been in close contact and send them to institutes of hygiene and epidemiology and the Institute of Pasteur for gene sequencing to identify the Omicron variant.
The Ministry of Health also requested localities and functional units to strengthen the surveillance system for cases with unusual developments and characteristics such as many cases, severe developments or hospitalizations, unusually increasing deaths over time.
At the same time, localities must immediately administer vaccination against Covid-19 to increase the coverage rate of the Covid-19 vaccine. Responsible bodies must give much attention to those who have not received enough doses in their localities.
According to the World Health Organization, to date, the Omicron variant has been recorded in 77 countries and territories. Omicron is classified as a worrisome variant as researchers have found that the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant that is hard to track shows a much more extensive escape from vaccine-elicited immunity.
