Hanoi (VNA) – The health sector of Vietnam is capableof diagnosing, treating and curing patients infected with the acute respiratorydisease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV), Deputy Minister of HealthNguyen Truong Son has said.
Expressing the confidence at a meeting in Hanoion February 3, Son further said there are about 17,000 confirmed nCoV cases,including 362 deaths, around the world at present. The fatality rate of thisdisease is some 2 percent, compared to the 9.6 percent of the severe acuterespiratory syndrome (SARS) in the past.
He predicted that the number of nCoV cases islikely to soar in the time ahead.
Meanwhile, health of the eight infected patientsin Vietnam has shown improvement. Notably, a case under treatment at the ChoRay Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has been tested negative for the virus forthree times, and he is set to be discharged from hospital on February 4. Apatient in Thanh Hoa province has also been tested negative and came out ofhospital on February 3.
The deputy minister said with the healthsector’s capacity, support from other sectors and drastic directions by PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam, the Ministry of Health willfulfill its tasks to ensure people’s health.
Regarding Chinese nationals returning to work inVietnam after the Lunar New Year holiday and the possible surge of Vietnamesecoming home from China, where the nCoV is raging, Deputy Minister of DefenceSen. Lt. Gen. Tran Don said the border guard force has suspended the entry intoVietnam by people from China at all border crossings.
At border gates, relevant agencies will isolateall people coming from nCoV-hit areas, especially China’s Hubei province – theepicenter of the epidemic. Meanwhile, suspected cases or persons from otheraffected regions will also be quarantined at medical establishments or localcommunities, he added.
At the meeting, Deputy PM Dam, head of the nationalsteering committee for the nCoV-caused disease prevention and control, stressedthat relevant agencies and localities must not be subjective but stay proactivein disease prevention and control./.