Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (Feb. 24): New Covid-19 Cases Cross 60,000 In a Single Day

Photo: Suc Khoe & Doi Song

Number of daily Covid-19 infections exceeds the 60,000 mark

The Health Ministry announced a further 60,355 new domestic Covid-19 cases across 62 cities and provinces nationwide, marking a rise of 4,467 cases from the previous day. The majority of the new cases were detected in Hanoi with 7,419, followed by the northern provinces of Bac Giang with 2,998 cases and Hai Duong with 2,944 infections.

Over the past 24 hours, a total of 91 Covid-19 patients have died, including 11 in Hanoi where the highest number of new infections were recorded. There were a further 15,641 recoveries, bringing the total number of people given the all-clear to 2,320,722.

The capital city of Hanoi again registered the highest daily number of infections with 7,419, also a record for the city.

Photo: Suc Khoe & Doi Song

Ministry of Health requests completing the "vaccine passport" granting system

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has sent a document to the Ministry of Information and Communications, urging it to complete a "vaccine passport" granting system as soon as possible. The MoH said it had received an official dispatch from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on testing digital signatures on the Covid-19 vaccination management platform.

Therefore, from February 15-18, its Department of Information Technology worked with the MIC and Viettel Group to review and evaluate the digital signature, finding out that the function has yet to meet the set requirements, and could not be tested as planned.

The MoH stressed that it had issued the form and process for granting "vaccine passports". However, after two months, the ministry is still unable to issue "vaccine passports" to serve international travel and trade of people.

Photo: Suc Khoe & Doi Song

Omicron now the dominant variant in HCM City

New Covid-19 infections have been on the rise in Ho Chi Minh City in recent days, and Omicron is currently the dominant variant here, according to the city’s center for disease control (HCDC). The southern hub recorded 1,356 new infections and 334 cases of hospitalization on February 22, both higher than the previous days, but the numbers of severe cases and deaths are still low.

The HCDC said from February 10 to 17, 70 of the 92 samples sent to the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, equivalent to 76 percent, tested positive for Omicron. Gene sequencing results also showed that all the 26 samples randomly selected from those 70 samples were positive to this variant.

Facing the spread of Omicron, HCM City is stepping up anti-pandemic measures, including the second phase of the spring vaccination campaign, scheduled to wrap up at the end of February, during which it has administered the first dose to more than 6,000 people, the second to over 26,000, and additional and booster to over 85,000.

The HCDC said vaccination is a critically important measure for enhancing immunity against Omicron. The city is also working to promote the protection of vulnerable groups, including obese children. The department is keeping a close watch on new infections and severe cases needing respiratory support to advise the municipal People’s Committee about whether or not in-person learning should be suspended, he said, adding that there are five child patients in need of respiratory support each day.

Photo: Suc Khoe & Doi Song

Hanoi maintains flexible measures to fight Covid-19

Hanoi authorities continue to implement measures to help its people safely and flexibly adapt to and effectively control the pandemic, and follow the policy of decentralization by assigning the right to carry out pandemic prevention and control for districts and towns, as the number of new infections in the capital city is on an upward trend.

Secretaries of Party Committees and chairpersons of People's Committees of districts and towns are assigned to directly instruct and take responsibility for reviewing and improving medical capacity at the grassroots level and make thorough preparations to avoid passiveness and overloading as new infections may arise in the coming days.

Authorities of the districts and towns are also requested to direct the grassroots political system to continue improving the quality of pandemic prevention and control, applying technology inpatient treatment and support, and strengthening the role of community Covid-19 prevention and control groups.

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