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EuroCham’s Medical Devices and Diagnostics Sector Committee recently presents the test kits to the Vietnamese side.Photo: EuroCham Vietnam

EuroCham’s Medical Devices and Diagnostics Sector Committee recently presented the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control with 12,000 SARS-CoV-2 test kits to help Vietnam in the fight against the pandemic.

The EuroCham committee affirmed to assist the MoH in allocating the donated tests to localities which are hit by the impacts of the fresh wave of the COVID-19, EuroCham said.

At the time of high risk of community spread, the EuroCham committee wishes the 12,000 test kits from Europe will be supportive for Vietnam in gripping with this fresh outbreak, sharing spirit of the European business community of contributing to outbreak containment in Vietnam.

At the hand-over ceremony. Photo: Hanoitimes

Torben Minko, Chairman of the EuroCham committee said, EuroCham Medical Devices and Diagnostics Sector Committee, representing 26 multinational medical devices and diagnostics companies operating in Vietnam supplying the vast majority of healthcare products distributed in the country, is committed to supporting the government and all Vietnamese citizens in this fight.

“Our industry is ensuring a stable supply and importation of sustainable, innovative, and high-quality healthcare products to meet the demand of effective prevention and fight against the pandemic as well as treatment activities. At the same time, we would like to make this practical contribution to join the current efforts of the government in this critical time in order to promptly control the outbreak,” he said.

“Given the high risk of community spread, we believe massive testing in the community is of significant importance to timely identify infection zones and high-risk cases, reduce the possibility of community spread. With these 12,000 test kits, we wish to increase the number of people in Vietnam being tested in time and effectively support expanding the scope of mass testing in the nation,” he added.

Nicolas Audier, EuroCham Chairman said medical devices are at the forefront of the campaign against COVID-19 and EuroCham is proud that the Medical Devices and Diagnostics Sector Committee has made such an important contribution to support Vietnam in its fight against this global pandemic.

"EuroCham and our medical devices and diagnostics member companies stand together with Vietnam during these uncertain times. We are proud to support the government’s world-leading response and re-affirm our long-term commitment to the health of Vietnamese citizens and the future development of Vietnam’s health sector," he noted.

Nguyen Cong Sinh, Deputy Director of the MoH’s Planning and Finance Department, expressed gratitude for the EuroCham committee’s timely and meaningful support.

Testing – one of “weapons” in COVID-19 fight

Swab samples are taken for Covid-19 tests at Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: VnExpress

The Ministry of Health has mobilised forces for COVID-19 testing at four venues in the central city of Da Nang, home to a new outbreak involving more than one hundreds of cases, according to Deputy Minister Nguyen Truong Son.

The four testing sites are the city disease control centre, Da Nang Lung Hospital, Da Nang General Hospital and Hospital 199 of the Ministry of Public Security, Son said at a meeting with leaders of the municipal People’s Committee earlier this month.

In addition, machinery and test kits have been transported from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang, Son said, describing quarantine, contact tracing and extended testing as Vietnam’s “weapons” in the pandemic fight, VNA reported.

At the signing ceremony between the World Bank and the State Bank of Vietnam. Photo: VNA

In late July, the World Bank and the State Bank of Vietnam signed a 6.2 million USD grant agreement to strengthen Vietnam’s COVID-19 surveillance and testing capacities, research capacity for COVID-19 vaccines and test kits, and communications about the pandemic.

The project will strengthen the capacity of laboratory systems at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and other lab systems nationwide by helping to improve the ability to evaluate community immunity to COVID-19.

The grant will also fund the provision of equipment to improve the capacity of the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (POLYVAC) for research and development of new vaccine and quick diagnostic tests.

The project is expected to support 200 laboratories involved in COVID-19 surveillance and testing in hospitals and provincial Centres for Disease Control nationwide. Support to NIHE and POLYVAC, Vietnam’s leading public health and vaccine research and production institutions, will directly contribute to improving the country’s capacities to detect and respond to COVID-19./.

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