Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 24): 24-hour Tally Hits Over 127,800 New Cases

Photo: Brink News

24-hour Covid-19 tally hits over 127,800 new cases

Health authorities confirmed the detection of a further 127,883 new Covid-19 cases on March 23 across 62 cities and provinces nationwide, marking a drop of 2,853 infections from the previous day, including 89,186 local cases.

Hanoi continued to report the highest number of infections with more than 13,000 recorded in a single day, followed by Phu Tho with 5.307, and Nghe An with 4,425. A total of 67 deaths were also confirmed over the past 24 hours, thereby raising the nation’s overall death toll to 42,075.

The Ministry of Health also announced an additional 192,465 recoveries on the same day, duly bringing the total number of recovered cases up to over 4.6 million since the start of the pandemic.

Photo: VNA

Digital vaccine passport to be issued nationwide

Talking to the press on the sidelines of a workshop on digital vaccination certificates on March 22, Nguyen Ba Hung, deputy director of the medical data center under MOH’s Department of Information Technology, said that the ministry on December 20, 2021, issued Decision No 5772 on the standard form and procedures for vaccine passport granting.

After the decision, MOH joined forces with the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and relevant agencies to build a vaccine passport issuance system and adjust the function of a digital signature on the vaccination management platform. MOH last week carried out the issuance on a trial basis at three hospitals – Bach Mai, K, and E. The trial showed that the system is ready for the issuance of electronic vaccine passports.

According to Hung, a digital vaccine passport has the same validity as a paper vaccine passport, but a digital vaccine passport makes it more convenient in traveling and international exchange. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reported that Vietnam’s vaccine passport form has received bilateral recognition from 17 countries.

The Department of Information Technology is building up a plan under which Departments of Health or CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) will implement digital signatures, depending on the local conditions. The Department of Information Technology under MOH is working with MIC to build up the vaccine passport display function. This means that if people have accurate information on this app, a vaccine passport will be automatically displayed.

Photo: Brookings

HCMC considers allowing vaccinated Covid close contact students to attend school

The HCMC education department is considering letting vaccinated students who are close contacts of Covid-19 cases to continue to attend in-person classes, according to VN Express.

Duong Tri Dung, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Education and Training, said they will cooperate with the Department of Health to evaluate available data and see if vaccinated students who are close contacts of Covid-19 cases can attend on-site classes, local reports said.

Under current rules, students who are close contacts of Covid-19 cases must self-isolate for five days if they are fully vaccinated, or seven days if they're unvaccinated.

Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, office head of the HCMC health department, said Monday that the proposal aims to "minimize impacts on students' studies." The students must continue to monitor their health and report any abnormality to medical authorities, she told local media.

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