WHO committed to assisting Vietnam in COVID-19 response

World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Vietnam Dr. Kidong Park. (Photo: Ministry of Health)

Hanoi (VNA) – World Health Organisation (WHO)
Representative in Vietnam Dr. Kidong Park has reaffirmed that WHO stands ready
to accompany the Government of Vietnam in COVID-19 response as well as provide Vietnamese
health workers with professional training and instructions on how to prevent themselves
from contracting the disease.

Park made the statement at a meeting with Minister of
Health Nguyen Thanh Long on August 3 during which the two sides discussed the
COVID-19 resurgence caused by Delta variant in many countries, including
Vietnam.

He expressed his confidence that Vietnam can weather the
COVID-19 storm with the participation of both the political system and people.

The super infectious Delta variant is causing various
difficulties for Vietnam’s efforts to keep the virus at bay but the country is
on the right track to fight the virus with many measures put in place, he said.

To cope with the ongoing outbreak, Vietnam has been
undertaking virus control measures that are more drastic and stronger than
ever, with social distancing order imposed in many cities and provinces. Some
southern localities even do not allow their residents to go out during certain
time frames.

He highly spoke of the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s swift
response by promptly establishing Intensive Care Centres in Ho Chi Minh City
and southern localities to treat critically-ill patients so as to minimise
fatalities.

These centres have engaged a number of leading medical
experts to treat patients. HCM City now has five centres of this kind,
providing a total of 2,700 beds.

The official emphasised that all WHO-approved COVID-19
vaccines are safe and effective and WHO is willing to help the MoH heighten its
capacity in testing, evaluating and authorising homegrown vaccines under the
mandate of the -certified National Regulatory Authority (NRA).

WHO will soon exchange with the Vietnamese side on
relevant works, he concluded.

Vietnam has been accelerating its effort to access
COVID-19 vaccine supplies with an aim to secure enough doses for 70 percent of
its population. But limited supplies remain a huge challenge to the country, which has been hit by the worst-ever coronavirus wave since late April./.