COVID-19 patients treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)“A lack of awareness, insufficient public health measures and lowcoverage of booster shots could lead to a possible outbreak,” it warned in astatement.
A combination of public health measures, behavioural changes andvaccination is needed to cope with the pandemic, it said.
It exhorted hospitals and medical facilities across thecountry to be vigilant to prevent a fresh outbreak following the recent surgein the number of cases, including severe cases requiring hospitalisation.
They need to assess their human resources, medical equipment andother supplies to be ready to admit patients for treatment, especially severeand critical cases, it said.
It is vital to detect cases for isolation and treatment in atimely manner to limit the spread and to improve surveillance to promptlyforecast the pandemic situation, especially to closely monitor the appearanceof new variants.
According to the World Health Organisation, the world is still ina pandemic phase and new variants are likely to emerge in the near future asthis virus does not yet have seasonality or act predictably.
Epidemiologists have warned COVID-19 remains a major threat topublic health, saying immunity wanes over time and the next stage of pandemicremains highly uncertain.
Vaccines are still a key measure in pandemic prevention,especially in preventing severity and deaths, they said.
It is important to speed up vaccination, including boostershots for people aged 12 and older (especially health workers, elderly peopleand others at highest risk) and two doses for children aged five to 12, theysaid.
The country has seen a hike in new cases with an average of 2,500per day in the past week.
Most people on ventilators are in high-risk groups such asolder people, people with underlying conditions and those who have not beenfully vaccinated.
Epidemiologists attributed the hike to the appearance of newsub-variants of the highly transmissible Omicron strain, which could evade theimmunity afforded by either vaccination or previous infection.
The country has recently detected sub-variants such as BA.4, BA.5and BA.2.74, of which BA.5 is now the dominant circulating variant.
More than 1.145 million patients are being treated at hospitalsand healthcare centres across the country, including 144 severe cases requiringrespiratory assistance.
Vietnam has had more than 11.42 million cases, includingmore than 43,000 deaths, since the beginning of the outbreak in early2020.
More than 82% of the population of 95 million has been fullyimmunised while around 64% has received the third dose.
More than 610.4 million cases and 6.5 million deaths have been recordedaround the world./.
VNA
