Vaccination is still the best way to control COVID-19 spreading out. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The is continuing to
develop a sustainable response plan to the pandemic in the new
situation, considering the context of dangerous new variants appearing.
The plan is also to strengthen of COVID-19
and other respiratory infections.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently announced that COVID-19
is no longer a public health emergency of global concern. However, the WHO
Director-General stressed that the declaration does not mean COVID-19 is no
longer a threat or that COVID-19 is less dangerous, said Prof. Dr. Phan
Trong Lan, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive
Medicine.
The WHO assessed the risk of COVID-19 as still high
globally. Although the number of cases and deaths has decreased globally,
there is still an increase in each region.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus itself is still changeable. At the beginning
of April, WHO announced there were about 400-500 sub-variants of Omicron, but
by early May, this number was 900, Lan said.
The organisation always reminds countries to be wary of emerging
variations.
According to the director, currently, the pandemic is increasing
in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Every day, Vietnam records about 2,000
COVID-19 cases, including deaths, one of ten post-COVID-19 related.
COVID-19 still burdens the health system, he noted.
Vietnam has appropriately responded to the epidemiological
situation in each period. Since October 2021, Vietnam has switched to safe,
flexible adaptation and effective control.
The Ministry of Health is to develop a
to the COVID-19 pandemic in the new situation.
In addition, the ministry diversifies disease surveillance
activities to properly assess the epidemic situation to implement appropriate
response measures, including key, regular, integrated, event-based and random
monitoring.
Random surveillance at the border gate is not mandatory, but it
still brings benefits to the community, so people need to coordinate, Lan said.
Regarding the question of when Vietnam will announce the end of
COVID-19, Lan said that currently, the country no longer has travel
restrictions. In contrast, the nature of SARS-CoV-2 can still travel on healthy
people and cross administrative barriers.
Immunity to COVID-19 will decrease over time, and new waves may
still emerge from one area to another.
Therefore, the COVID-19 epidemic is difficult to predict and
unpredictable and has increased in each region.
Regarding the announcement, the Law on Prevention and Control of
Infectious Diseases stipulates that epidemic announcement includes five
contents; time, place, scope and scale; cause and transmission route and
dangerous nature of the pandemic; prevention measures; and medical examination
and treatment facilities.
With these five contents, it is still necessary to continue to
publish data on the epidemic for relevant agencies and the people to understand
helping to control the pandemic quickly, Lan said.
The Ministry of Health continues to recommend that people must
maintain the 2Ks measures (wearing masks and disinfection), vaccines,
medicines, and people’s awareness in the long-term prevention and control of
COVID-19, he added./.
Source: VietnamPlus
