The Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, on September 14, said that amid the interrupted supply of two vaccines in the expanded program on immunization (EPI), namely the single measles vaccine and the DPT vaccine, there is a high risk of a measles outbreak overlapping existing diseases, including dengue fever and Covid-19.
The Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, on September 13, said that it had sent an urgent document to the People's Committee of HCMC and the Ministry of Health about the supply of measles and DPT vaccines (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) - two vaccines in the free-of-charge expanded program on immunization for children.
Medical experts advised people to get third and fourth doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to avoid infection with new coronavirus variants at the seminar ‘Why are third and fourth Covid-19 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine necessary?’ held by the Government Portal today.
People who are double jabbed or have had Covid-19 within three months can be free to return to work and attend schools though they are identified as a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case.
The Ministry of Health has issued the form and procedures for the issuance of Vietnam’s official Covid-19 'vaccine passports’ as well as coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications and related agencies to launch of digital vaccine passport, facilitating those who travel to foreign countries for work, study and business.
According to Chief of Office of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, the city Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention and Economic Recovery is working with the Department of Health to closely monitor the epidemic situation in the city trying to overcome the peak of coronavirus wave in the next two weeks.
In recent days, the Central provinces have continuously recorded a high number of Covid-19 cases in the community, with more than 1,000 community transmissions per day in some provinces. Therefore, the demand for rapid testing has surged drastically, leading to a scarcity of rapid test kits in some localities, such as Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Binh Dinh provinces, or even out of stock in some places.
Although the numbers of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have all decreased, people must continue to perform well 5K, especially vaccination rollout must be accelerated to keep the city’s achievements, especially when the Lunar New Year is approaching, said Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Economic Recovery Pham Duc Hai.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health yesterday said that after a month of implementing the campaign of protecting people vulnerable to coronavirus, the districts and Thu Duc City had submitted the lists of 639,972 people under local management, including 26,642 people unvaccinated against Covid-19 and 5,437 ones being infectious with SARS-CoV-2.
People who are about to enter HCMC through Tan Son Nhat International Airport need to have a negative RT-PCR test result within 72 hours before arrival in Vietnam. This test result must be confirmed by the competent authority in the host country, except for children under two years old.
The Government is focusing on fighting the epidemic while still implementing synchronously other tasks, especially long-term strategic tasks of perfecting institutions and building strategic infrastructure. Resilience of Vietnam’s state economy in 2022 is positive.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has just issued an official letter on a five-step process of strictly managing and monitoring medical isolation for imported cases via the Tan Son Nhat International Airport to proactively control the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 and prevent chains of infection from the new variant in the community.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested heads of steering committees for Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control, chairpersons of people's committees in provinces and cities to strictly make statistics of all people in high-risk groups and households with people having underlying medical conditions to monitor them.
Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Anh Duc directed the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Health, administrations in districts, and Thu Duc City to conduct a preliminary review of pilot in-person learning in two weeks for students in grades 9 and 12 for proposal of continued learning; from which the city will maintain the best learning environment for children.
The Ministry of Health urged scientists in institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute to race to detect Omicron variant, the latest SARS-CoV-2 variant, of concern genome sequencing of imported people infected with Covid-19 from November 28 till now.
In its document, the Ministry of Health announced Vietnamese citizens, overseas Vietnamese, and relatives including spouses and children who have not been vaccinated or have not received enough doses of the Covid-19 vaccine can get free doses of vaccine during isolation if they wish.
Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai affirmed that the city authorities will allocate an amount of money to build and repair facilities for the health sector and the education sector and to purchase medical equipment and supplies for the Covid-19 pandemic prevention.
