According to Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine Nguyen Luong Tam, the health sector has recorded a surge of new Covid-19 and respiratory illness cases recently, even hospitalized patients.
The information was released at a press conference of the Ministry of Health on the diseases situation in the first quarter of 2024 and the assessment of risks and forecast related to disease during the Lunar New Year which was organized on February 2.
As for the Covid-19 epidemic, the representative of the Department of Preventive Medicine noted that a new sub-variant, JN.1 has been found in Covid-19 infections in Ho Chi Minh City.
Following the classification of the World Health Organization (WHO), JN.1 is listed in the group of variants of concern.
The JN.1 Omicron sub-variant is assessed to have a number of mutations that help it avoid immunity and reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. However, the WHO affirmed that there is no evidence the JN.1 Omicron variant is more deadly or causes more severe Covid-19 than previous variants.
The World Health Organization continues to recommend people to get vaccinated with booster Covid-19 vaccine doses, especially for high-risk groups comprising medical staff, children, the elderly and people with underlying diseases.
