People wait for COVID-19 vaccinations in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)Pham Van Phuc, deputyhead of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) under the hospital, said that thehospital was treating about 70 COVID-19 patients.
Severe patients aretreated in the ICU, while those with moderate symptoms are treated on theVirology - Parasitology Ward. Both areas are separated from regular patients.
The ICU is now full ofbeds to treat patients with COVID-19.
"The ICU has 25patients, most of them need ventilation and oxygen masks. Most are elderly andhave underlying diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,bronchial asthma, cardiovascular disease or HIV," said Phúc.
He added that elderlypatients or those with underlying conditions can worsen quickly. The treatment,therefore, was very difficult because it was related to the underlying disease.
Explaining the recentincrease, Phuc said that it was because of two main reasons.
Firstly, units treatingCOVID-19 in different provinces have been gradually closed as the number ofcases nationwide declined. As a result, remaining patients were moved to theCentral Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
Secondly, the third doseof the vaccine was given about six months ago, meaning antibodies provided bythe vaccine have decreased. People are now at high risk of re-infection andsevere conditions when infected.
Nguyen Trung Cap, deputydirector of the hospital, said that all COVID-19 patients under treatment hadeither refused to get the vaccine, or did not receive sufficient booster doses.
Phuc said that thefourth booster dose is important in supplementing people’s resistance.
Booster doses areespecially important for high-risk people such as the elderly and people withunderlying diseases.
He said a study inIsrael conducted on over 182,122 people who were over 60 years old showed thatthe second booster’s effectiveness was significant.
Protection againstCOVID-19 of the second booster increased by 45%, effectiveness againstre-infection increased by 55%, effectiveness against severe condition increasedby 68%, and the risk of death from COVID-19 decreased by 74%.
For the above reasons,vaccines continue to be a very important factor in the prevention and reductionof death for COVID-19, especially with new strains BA. 4 and BA.5.
The Hanoi Centre forDisease Control said that all people eligible for vaccination living in Hanoican go to communes’ and wards’ health stations for instructions and registerfor booster shots./.
VNA
