Italian scientists announce the image of new variant Omicron. (Photo: Sputnik/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam is working closely with the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC)in its response to new coronavirus variant Omicron, according to Minister ofHealth Nguyen Thanh Long.
TheMinistry of Health on November 30 held a meeting on the threats of the veryconcerning variant with WHO Representative in Vietnam Kidong Park, CDCSoutheast Asia Regional Director John MacArthur, and Director of US CDC Vietnam’sGlobal Health Security Programme Matthew Moore.
Longsaid as of November 30 morning, Vietnam has not recorded any case of COVID-19with the new variant.
Theministry last week asked the government to halt flights to/from SouthAfrica, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Mozambique, as wellas suspend the issuance of visas for passengers coming from these countries.
Theministry has also asked to step up surveillance to promptly detect abnormalsigns at COVID-19 outbreak clusters, and ordered the Pasteur institutes and theNational Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology to perform genome sequencing onsuspect cases with Omicron, especially ones with a history of travel tosouthern Africa.
TheWHO and CDC representatives all stressed the four important steps in dealingwith Omicron, including enhancing testing and surveillance to detect the cases,speeding up vaccination, boosting the capacity of the medical system –especially at the grassroots level – to make them able to deal withgrowing outbreaks, and stepping up communication on COVID-19 prevention andcontrol measures and making public the genetic sequences of COVID-19 cases forfurther analysis by researchers and experts.
Atthe meeting, leaders of the Health Ministry together with the representativesof WHO, US CDC in Southeast Asia and US CDC in Vietnam agreed to be ready toshare the results of the genetic sequencing of COVID-19 cases.
Longsaid Vietnam to date had administered 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccinesand progress had been steady recently, especially with the rollout of vaccinesfor children aged 12-17 in more than 30 localities around the country.
Healso urged the public to follow COVID-19 prevention and control measures butnot to panic or become overly anxious in the face of the Omicron variant./.
TheMinistry of Health on November 30 held a meeting on the threats of the veryconcerning variant with WHO Representative in Vietnam Kidong Park, CDCSoutheast Asia Regional Director John MacArthur, and Director of US CDC Vietnam’sGlobal Health Security Programme Matthew Moore.
Longsaid as of November 30 morning, Vietnam has not recorded any case of COVID-19with the new variant.
Theministry last week asked the government to halt flights to/from SouthAfrica, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Mozambique, as wellas suspend the issuance of visas for passengers coming from these countries.
Theministry has also asked to step up surveillance to promptly detect abnormalsigns at COVID-19 outbreak clusters, and ordered the Pasteur institutes and theNational Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology to perform genome sequencing onsuspect cases with Omicron, especially ones with a history of travel tosouthern Africa.
TheWHO and CDC representatives all stressed the four important steps in dealingwith Omicron, including enhancing testing and surveillance to detect the cases,speeding up vaccination, boosting the capacity of the medical system –especially at the grassroots level – to make them able to deal withgrowing outbreaks, and stepping up communication on COVID-19 prevention andcontrol measures and making public the genetic sequences of COVID-19 cases forfurther analysis by researchers and experts.
Atthe meeting, leaders of the Health Ministry together with the representativesof WHO, US CDC in Southeast Asia and US CDC in Vietnam agreed to be ready toshare the results of the genetic sequencing of COVID-19 cases.
Longsaid Vietnam to date had administered 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccinesand progress had been steady recently, especially with the rollout of vaccinesfor children aged 12-17 in more than 30 localities around the country.
Healso urged the public to follow COVID-19 prevention and control measures butnot to panic or become overly anxious in the face of the Omicron variant./.
VNA
