Covid Cases Decrease After Holiday: Has Vietnam Achieved Herd Immunity?

Photo: dantri

During the last holiday of April 30-May 1, many people went to the beach, amusement parks, and other touristy hot spots.

In contrast to the Lunar New Year 2022 holiday (When the number of F0 cases across the country, especially Hanoi increased after the holiday), the Ministry of Health announced that the number of new F0 cases per day across the country remained low.

For example, in Hanoi, the number of F0 cases per day was recorded at over 30,000 cases in the period of March. However, in the past week, this number has been below 1,000 cases.

According to the Ministry of Health, from 4:00 p.m. on May 4 to 4:00 p.m. on May 5, only 4,305 new cases were recorded.

The fact that the number of F0 no longer "booms" after the holiday like in the previous period makes many people wonder: Has Vietnam achieved herd immunity to Covid-19?

Number of F0 cases did not increase sharply after the holiday

A leader of the Hanoi's Center for Disease Control said that the number of Covid-19 cases in Hanoi did not increase sharply after the holiday, but remained low due to many factors such as: Covid-19 vaccination rate, high infection rate, people's awareness of pandemic prevention.

The high rate of vaccination against Covid-19 is thought to be one of the reasons. Photo: dantri

According to the expert, to achieve herd immunity to Covid-19, it is necessary to meet one of two factors, including: The vaccination rate is over 95%, or the majority of people in the community have been infected.

"Currently, the rate of full vaccination in Vietnam is approximately 80%, while the national infection rate as announced by the Ministry of Health is just over 10% of the population," he said.

Covid-19 "cools down" but we need to be cautious

According to experts, we should still be cautious in turning Covid-19 into a group B infectious disease. It is best to wait for another 1-2 months. Photo: dantri

According to Do Van Dung, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, the number of F0 cases no longer increased sharply after the last holiday, reflecting that Vietnam has achieved herd immunity to Covid-19.

"We currently have a high rate of vaccine coverage, the pandemic has also spread strongly in the community. Therefore, the proportion of people with immunity is high. This causes the pandemic to enter a downward phase. If there are spikes, it will not increase strongly and will still be in a downtrend", said Do Van Dung.

However, according to this expert, we should still be cautious in making Covid-19 a group B infectious disease, and it is best to wait for another 1-2 months.

Dung also pointed out the reasons leading to this statement:

Firstly, caution should be taken because the immunity of Covid-19 is not sustainable. Therefore, after being vaccinated or having been infected for a while, we can still be re-infected. Therefore, it is not possible to guarantee that there will not be another outbreak in the future.

The second reason is because there is currently much work to be done in the overall fight against the pandemic, typically vaccinating children. If Vietnam declares that Covid-19 is no longer a dangerous infectious disease, it will be more difficult to vaccinate children.

Time to reopen

Doctor Truong Huu Khanh, former head of the Department of Infection - Neurology at Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City said Vietnam has now achieved herd immunity.

"The fact that we have relaxed but the pandemic still does not break out strongly shows that it is appropriate to bring Covid-19 to a group B infectious disease. In my opinion, we should also reopen, Khanh said.

He said pandemic prevention measures such as wearing masks and disinfecting (washing hands with soap) should now only be at the recommended level.

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