COVID-19 tends to increase, Ministry of Health issues urgent dispatch requesting to strengthen epidemic prevention and control

On April 12, the Ministry of Health sent an urgent dispatch on strengthening COVID-19 prevention and control to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities.

The document stated: According to information recorded by the national infectious disease surveillance system, the COVID-19 epidemic situation in the country has tended to increase since the beginning of April. In the past 7 days (from April 5 to April 11, 2023), the whole country has recorded 639 new COVID-19 cases, an average of 90 new cases per day, an increase of 3.8 times compared to the previous 7 days; of which the group aged 50 and over recorded 193 cases (accounting for 30.2% of new cases). The number of hospitalizations also tended to increase; the number of severe patients recorded during the week was 10 cases, an average of 1-2 severe cases recorded per day.

The Ministry of Health also said that the rate of COVID-19 vaccination in some localities has not reached the set target. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization still assesses the COVID-19 epidemic as an international public health emergency in the context of continuing to closely monitor the epidemic situation, changes, and the emergence of new strains and variants of the virus in the future.

Although globally, hospitalizations, severe cases and deaths have decreased significantly compared to a year ago, some groups remain at high risk of severe cases or death, including the elderly, people with underlying medical conditions, people with immunodeficiency, and pregnant women, so priority should be given to protecting these groups.

Other infectious diseases such as hand, foot and mouth disease, dengue fever, flu... also have the risk of increasing the number of cases, leading to the risk of epidemic prevention.

Absolutely do not be subjective, negligent, or lose vigilance in preventing the COVID-19 epidemic.

To continue to proactively take measures to prevent and control the epidemic, control the epidemic situation, prevent the epidemic from breaking out again, and contribute to creating conditions for socio-economic development, the Ministry of Health requests the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to direct the implementation of the following contents. Specifically:

Continue to thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the directions of the Government and the Prime Minister in the prevention and control of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases; absolutely do not be subjective, negligent, lose vigilance and effectively implement epidemic prevention and control measures according to Resolution No. 38/NQ-CP dated March 17, 2022 of the Government and the Plan for prevention and control of infectious diseases in 2023 in Decision No. 1331/QD-BYT dated March 10, 2023 of the Ministry of Health.

At the same time, promote COVID-19 vaccination to achieve the goals set by the Government and the Prime Minister; mobilize the participation of local authorities and departments, branches and organizations to resolutely implement the review and mobilization of subjects to participate in COVID-19 vaccination, especially for high-risk groups.

At the same time, proactively monitor and closely monitor the epidemic situation in the area; be prepared to respond to possible epidemic situations. Strengthen the implementation of measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic at educational institutions, monitor at border gates, in medical facilities and in the community to detect early and handle promptly, not allowing the epidemic to spread to the community; closely coordinate with units of the Ministry of Health to proactively detect early new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Localities also need to organize an assessment of the epidemic level according to Resolution No. 128/NQ-CP dated October 11, 2021 of the Government, Decision No. 218/QD-BYT dated January 27, 2022 of the Ministry of Health on temporary guidance on medical expertise to implement the temporary regulation "Safely and flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling the COVID-19 epidemic" to promptly apply appropriate epidemic prevention and control measures according to the epidemic level.

Direct the organization of admission, emergency, care and effective treatment of cases, especially for high-risk groups such as pregnant women, people with underlying diseases, the elderly, minimizing deaths and strictly implementing infection control, preventing cross-infection in treatment facilities; prepare plans for admission and treatment of patients and proactively improve treatment capacity, especially emergency and intensive care capacity to meet treatment requirements. Continue to ensure logistics, funding, drugs, vaccines, biological products, supplies, chemicals, equipment and human resources for epidemic prevention and control.

The Ministry of Health also requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities to direct relevant units to strengthen disease prevention communication to raise awareness and change people's behavior in protecting the health of themselves, their families and the community. Regularly update information on the epidemic situation and advise people to comply with disease prevention requirements such as wearing masks, disinfecting in medical facilities, on public transport and at crowded places and events, especially during the upcoming holidays.

At the same time, focus on information about the benefits and effects of vaccines; closely follow the psychological trends of people and society, enhance community confidence and mobilize people to participate in full and on-schedule vaccination.

The Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Prevention and Control Bulletin on April 12 shows that the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase. Today, there are 261 new cases, 46 patients have recovered and 9 are on oxygen.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, Vietnam has had 11,528,303 infections, ranking 13th out of 230 countries and territories, while with the rate of infections per 1 million people, Vietnam ranks 121st out of 230 countries and territories (on average, there are 116,502 infections per 1 million people).

To date, more than 10.6 million people with COVID-19 in our country have recovered.

It has been nearly 3.5 months since Vietnam recorded any deaths due to COVID-19. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Vietnam to date is 43,186, accounting for 0.4% of the total number of infections.

Total deaths ranked 26th out of 230 territories, deaths per 1 million people ranked 141st out of 230 countries and territories in the world. Compared to Asia, total deaths ranked 7th out of 49 (ranked 3rd in ASEAN), deaths per 1 million people ranked 29th out of 49 countries and territories in Asia (ranked 5th in ASEAN).

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