Covid-19 weekly update in Vietnam - Week 3, July 2021
Vietnam is now facing a stronger wave of pandemic as the number of patients keeps rising everyday. Local authorities have made new changes to the fight against the virus accordingly, hoping that the new measures can restrain the expansion of Coronavirus.
QUICK SUMMARY
After 1 week, Vietnam has reported a sharp rise of over 20.000 cases, which pushes the total number upto 52.215 cases of infection. It seems that the expansion is much more difficult to restrain than the expectation of the authorities. By far, the severe effects caused by the coronavirus have led to more deaths. Statistics show that by 18th July, there were 219 infected F0 confirmed dead. Among 63 provinces, there are only 4 provinces with no sign of Corona infection at Vinh Phuc, Quang Nam, Nam Dinh and Lao Cai. On the contrary, Vietnam has confirmed over 10.667 recoveries at quarantines in public and are looking forward to increasing that number.
The doctors said that over 80% of patients only had mild symptoms such as fever, cough, tiredness or muscular pain. They can also suffer from sore throat, running nose, headache or even vomiting and diarrhea. Some of them don’t even show any sign of clinical symptoms, which is very hard for doctors to follow. Luckily, these patients haven’t yet endured pneumonia, however, the case can’t be underestimated. Based on the real situation of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health has decided to apply a new treatment regimen. The regimen divides the patients into 2 groups: The suspects and the identified. The first one will be treated at a private area and wait until there is a result for their covid test. The second one will be treated and isolated in quarantines. For the identified patients, they can be separated in three types, each will be taken care of differently. The Ministry of Health also publics the whole treatment procedure as followed:
In April 2021, the doctors applied a different treatment process for the patients. Patients were required to have better performance of physical health: no more fever or clinical symptoms before being able to leave quarantines or hospitals. Until recently, the doctors have adapted to the case and passed a new regimen:
Eversince the new cases detection during the past week, the authorities of Hanoi have ordered to stop all public services once again, starting from last Tuesday. This time, realising the alarming circumstance of the new-discovered wave, the government has enforced the obligations. Citizens in Hanoi were no longer allowed to practice outdoor activities such as jogging, exercising, going cycling around lakes, etc. All small public services were no longer available to serve customers in place. Furthermore, there were also disease control checkpoints set up around Hanoi entrance areas to make sure that no possible infected individuals can get in or out of the capital.
Disease checkpoint at Hanoi entrance
While treating the patients in three red zones at three different districts of Hanoi, doctors also detected more cases that had made contact with the former F0 (either in Ho Chi Minh or at SEI factory, Dong Anh district). So far, the total number of infections in Hanoi has reached 117 since 5th July. At the same time, new areas of infection were also discovered but there was no clear information on the source of infection. For instance, an F0 bank agent in Hai Ba Trung district was in close contact with more than 20 people. She confirmed to the CDC that she hadn’t gone out of Hanoi for the past month and that she had only travelled from home to work only. She had no idea how she had gotten infected. Such circumstances bring hard time to the local authorities in controlling the pandemic. Therefore, the capital of Hanoi has started to tighten the social isolation from Monday 19th July. Citizens are demanded to stay home, only a few services are allowed: factories, sectors of production, construction, necessary products business (groceries, medications, electricity, water, fuel, etc.)
In short, Hanoi now has several clusters within the capital territory. Citizens have to stay cautious and always apply prevention measures in order to protect themselves and others. The city has to start another isolation until any further directives from the government and the local CDC.
PANDEMIC IN HCMC
Despite having applied directive 16, Ho Chi Minh City still detects more patients everyday from 200 to 500 cases. Specifically on 18th July, there were 1.756 patients, 1.694 found in public quarantines and 62 are being tested or are positive for the virus in public. Because the amount of infections exceeds rapidly, the public quarantines in the city have become overloaded and are unable to take in new patients for treatment. Therefore, the local authorities have used the Thuan Kieu building in district 5 to serve as a new quarantine in public. The building has a capability of holding around 1.000 beds in an area of 20.000 m2 on the 1st and the 2nd floor, which will be a great help for medical staff in the front line. Beds and medical equipment are being transferred there and the quarantine will be ready for service very soon.
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Thuan Kieu Plaza - a new public hospital-quarantine in HCMC
Meanwhile, the aviation department is also looking for a suitable way to take citizens from HCMC back to their hometown. The department requires an agreement from local authorities including conditions on the number of passengers, the transfer itinerary and the measure of surveillance throughout the flight. Still, this decision might face different ideas as it shows 2 results: either it is a great idea that will help reduce the amount of patients for HCMC or it is advisable for citizens to stay at their current accommodation to prevent cross infection. The department is still taking opinions from everyone and it seems that most of them agree with the first one.
NEW PATH FOR TOURISM
With the severe influences of the pandemic these years, the tourism situation all around the world and in Vietnam have been stalled for quite some time. Recently, a new form of travelling has come to exist despite the Covid-19. The style allows tourists from all around the world to experience the voyage through a digital lense called ‘mobile phone’. The local tour guide will connect with tourists via a meeting call and then travel to different places (could be in Hanoi or other tourist attractions if possible). The customers can now stay safe indoors and also enjoy a whole new digital experience. By this way, anyone can see authentic life in Vietnam and other countries. Especially, the groups of the elderly or the handicapped, who are unable to travel, can also take part in such form of tourism. It is likely that the trend will go viral and will be a great solution for all tourism staff in the case that the pandemic continues to expand.
Online travel - a new style of travelling in Vietnam
Sources: VnExpress, Bo Y Te, Lao dong, Thanh nien, Tien phong, VOV, VTV News, Tuoi tre, other governmental sources.
Published on 19th July, 2021
Written and designed by Khanh Le, Assistant Manager at Mr Linh’s Adventures.
Previous weeks updates:
- Week 2, July 2021
- Week 1, July 2021