Covid-19 pandemic in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hanoi under control

	Vietnam News Today (June 15): Northern region braces for latest heat wave
	Vietnam's special Mid-year Festival amid Covid-19 pandemic
	Ho Chi Minh city extends social distancing by 2 more weeks

Bac Giang province is currently Vietnam’s biggest coronavirus hotspot with 4,137 Covid-19 cases, nevertheless, the number of new infections has decreased markedly, and is mainly workers and F1 cases in centralized quarantine facilities. The pandemic situation in Bac Giang is under control and outbreaks have been localized.

Duong Van Thai, secretary of Bac Giang Party Committee, said the province had made attempts to curb the pandemic by June 21.

Taking samples from workers in Quang Chau Industrial Park, Bac Giang, for Covid-19 testing. Photo: VnExpress

There have remained only two large outbreaks in Bac Giang, one in a number of residences with crowded workers in Viet Yen district and other in centralized quarantine facilities receiving laborers also in Viet Yen. However, the two clusters have a low risk of spreading to the community, Thai said, adding that the province had deployed testing and screening many times to timely detect F0 cases.

Hundreds of enterprises in Bac Giang have resumed operation, aiming to fulfill targets on ensuring production under Covid-19 prevention and control, VnExpress reported.

“The efforts of 10,000 Covid-19 community groups with the involvement of 36,000 people and the determination of leaders and residents have helped to put the pandemic in the province under control,” Thai said.

Hoang Minh Duc, deputy director of the preventive medicine department under the health ministry, said Bac Ninh had eased the social distancing measures and lockdown in several areas.

A medical worker checks the temperature of a driver in Bac Ninh Province. Photo: VnExpress

Tu Son town has recently reported a number of new infections. The health sector has contact traced 229 F1 and 2, 679 F2 cases. Experts said that although the pandemic in the town was under control, it posed a potential risk of spreading to the community.

Le Xuan Loi, secretary of Tu Son Party Committee, said that the town had sped up contact tracing to discover any newcases. In addition, it has prepared centralized quarantine facilities for 3,000 people.

In Hanoi, the infection chain of small traders in Dong Anh district is the most worrying, with the first case detected on June 7. After a week, this cluster has documented 18 infections: 17 in Dong Anh and one in Soc Son district.

Khong Minh Tuan, deputy director of Hanoi Center for Disease Control, said this outbreak was basically under control, with close contacts having their samples for testing. However, more new infections linked to the outbreak are likely to be recorded.

A medical worker operates inside the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. Photo: VnExpress

Tuan said the virus might exist in the area for a relatively long time, thus, Hanoi CDC would continue to zone and conduct contact tracing on a larger scale.

Since April 24, the capital has recorded 246 Covid-19 cases. Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh said the city would consider relaxing a number of essential businesses to diminish the impacts of the pandemic on people’s lives.

Completing the third round of vaccination by June 18

The Ministry of Health has urged the ministries of defense and public security, people’s committees of provinces and cities and four institutes of hygiene and epidemiology to accelerate Covid-19 immunization.

Accordingly, the health ministry requires the inoculation to be completed before June 18 to ensure safety.

The National Institute of Hygiene And Epidemiology, Tay Nguyen Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Nha Trang Pasteur Institute and Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute have been assigned to support provinces and cities in administration.

Vietnam will secure about 120 million Covid-19 vaccine doses this year from different sources, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Russia and the Covax Facility.

Vietnam has received two batches of AstraZeneca vaccine, comprising 811,200 doses on April 1 and 1,682,400 doses supplied by Covax on May 16. In addition, it has ordered 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and received 400,000 doses.

A medical worker at HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases checks a vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 8, 2021 when Vietnam started its mass vaccination campaign. Photo: VnExpress

As of June 14, Vietnam has injected a total of 1,498,323 vaccine doses to its citizens, mainly medical and frontline workers. A total of 55,265 people have completed two shots.

The health ministry has reached a deal to purchase 20 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, but the delivery time is unknown.

The ministry has also successfully negotiated with the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech pharmaceutical companies. Moderna has pledged to authorize Zuellig Pharma company to distribute 5 million doses to Vietnam in May. Ho Chi Minh City is required to buy this amount of the vaccine, but it has not yet arrived in the country,

Meanwhile, Pfizer/BioNTech has committed to supply Vietnam with 31 million doses in the third and fourth quarters.

Vietnam researches production of single-dose Covid-19 vaccine The Health Ministry on Saturday stated a Vietnamese enterprise is in talks with a U.S. manufacturer regarding technology transfer to produce a one-dose Covid-19 vaccine ...

Vietnamese businesses provide technology solutions to combat Covid-19 Vietnamese companies have built many applications for pandemic prevention and control such as automatic temperature measurement gates suitable for applications in buildings, areas to be ...

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (June 14): 290 new cases, 59 deaths confirmed New cases have taken the national tally to 10,630. The country has recorded a total of 7,423 local cases in 39 cities and provinces in ...