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Health workers said that the development of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country become more complicated with an increasing number of Covid-19 cases.
Beforehand, BA.2.75 has also since been detected in about 10 other countries, including the UK, US, Australia, Germany, and Canada at the beginning of July. Studies show that variant BA.2.75 has multiple mutations in the gene encoding for the spike protein of the virus. That is the part of the virus that sticks out and binds to the host cell receptor. Those mutations allow the virus to bind to that receptor more efficiently, meaning it can infect human cells better. It also has mutations that may make your antibodies, which are generated in response to vaccination, less able to bind or neutralize the virus. Once again, there is some concern that this virus may be able to spread quickly and evade immunity from vaccination or prior infection.
The Department of Preventive Medicine also said that the country averagely records about 2,000 cases of Covid-19 every day. Worse, Covid cases continue to increase, which would cause an overload on the country’s health system. The arrival of Covid‐19 is currently overlapping with other viruses, particularly dengue. At the same time, some localities have recently announced additional cases with a large number, making it difficult to identify, forecast, and evaluate the epidemic situation.
As a result, to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic in the coming time, the Ministry of Health asked directors of health departments in provinces and cities to review data and report promptly.
Localities will continue to declare patient codes on the Ministry of Health's automatic code-granting system right after the test results detect Covid-19 cases.
Simultaneously, medical centers must monitor and closely follow the epidemic situation in the area, especially the emergence of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as regularly assess epidemic levels to promptly adjust epidemic prevention measures in accordance with Resolution 128/NQ-CP.
Hospitals must provide timely treatment of Covid cases to prevent the transfer of severe cases and deaths.
On the afternoon of August 16, the Ministry of Health said that during the day, the country had 2,983 more cases of Covid-19 and 5,214 recoveries. However, two more Covid-19 deaths were recorded in the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien.