Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Vice-Chairman Duong Anh Duc called on units to spread Covid-19 prevention and control to prevent the epidemic from reappearing, in the context of rising infections.
On April 14, city leaders sent documents to Thu Doc provincial and city people’s departments and committees, and mentioned the increased Covid-19 situation across the country from early April until now. In Ho Chi Minh City, the number of infections increased slightly and a new strain of Omicron, XBB.1.5, was discovered. This is a strain that spreads quickly, but there is no clear evidence of serious cases.
The city’s people’s commission urged units to implement Covid-19 prevention and control measures and closely monitor the epidemiological situation to respond quickly and prevent further outbreaks.
The city promotes Covid-19 vaccinations, especially for high-risk groups. Medical facilities are equipped with logistics, medicines and infection control to prevent cross-infection and reduce deaths.
People are advised to wear masks in medical facilities, on public transport, and at places and events with large crowds, especially during the upcoming holidays. The units organize monitoring at the border gate and early detection of infected and suspected cases in order to isolate and treat them.
Schools are high-risk places for contagion and clustering of cases. Therefore, schools are obliged to organize school epidemic prevention, notify local health authorities as soon as cases appear, and at the same time review the vaccination of students.
From the beginning of March to date, Ho Chi Minh City has recorded one case of Covid-19 per day. The number of infections this week has slightly increased, on April 12 there were 3 more cases, on April 13 there were 7 cases. At the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, 12 patients are being treated, with no serious cases requiring mechanical ventilation.
At the end of April 2021, Covid-19 returned to Ho Chi Minh City, which broke out in May, forming the fourth wave of epidemics that quickly spread to 13 southern provinces and then to the entire country.
Ho Chi Minh City at that time experienced the most painful loss in 6 months of history due to the outbreak of the epidemic, and was forced into lockdown and social distancing, and more than 80% of the city’s population were infected with the virus, and nearly 20 thousand people died forever. The anti-epidemic period also revealed many shortcomings in the health system, which helped Ho Chi Minh City to draw lessons from the experience to improve medical capacity and prevent epidemics in time to prevent further outbreaks.
