Shops on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, Ha Noi have to close until further notice. VNA/VNS PHOTO
Vietnam's Ministry of Health has dispatched an official document to chairpersons of people’s committees in provinces and cities calling for strengthening of measures to prevent and control Covid-19 as the country braces for the possibility of more cases caused by the Omicron variant.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 25 announced it had recorded a worrying new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, called Omicron (B.1.1.529), first identified in South Africa.
By December 2, at least 27 countries and territories had recorded the Omicron variant. The new strain has not been detected in Vietnam so far, but the risk of it entering and spreading into the country is huge, the health ministry said.
According to the ministry’s request, localities must continue to effectively implement the government’s resolution no 128/NQ-CP and the health ministry’s decision no 4800/QD-BYT to effectively implement the “5K message”, administer vaccines and medicine, apply technology in pandemic prevention and treatment, and raise people’s awareness.
Officials need to actively develop plans to respond to Covid-19 in their areas and reach all people as early as possible.
Officials also need to improve the capacity of health systems, especially at the grassroots level, ensure adequate drugs, medical supplies and equipment. They should also have a plan to mobilise health workers when needed; at the same time, continue to promote the role of the community Covid teams and mobile health stations to prevent patients not being able to contact medical facilities, not being consulted, or not provided with drugs and treatment.
The health minister asked officials to strengthen the supervision and management of cases from overseas, especially cases coming from countries and regions that have recorded Omicron such as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique, as well as some European countries.
Localities also need to strictly test, quarantine, provide medical supervision and monitor people entering Vietnam in accordance with regulations and strictly handle violations of regulations on pandemic prevention and control.
The ministry also requests improving key surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI), severe viral pneumonia (SVP), event-based surveillance (EBS), testing of suspected cases for early detection of Covid-19; proactively sending patient samples suspected of being infected with the Omicron variant to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute for testing and genetic sequencing. Timely medical isolation, thoroughly handling the outbreak to prevent larger spread and outbreak in the community is also of critical importance.
Localities are asked to speed up vaccinations of children aged 12 and older (priority is given to those aged 50 and older and people with underlying diseases) as soon as the vaccine is distributed.
They also need to review and complete the basic full-dose vaccination for adults while deploying booster shots according to instructions by the health ministry.
VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
