at the meeting (Photo: VNA) Duc Dam said on April 24 that people should be happy with the current situation
surrounding COVID-19 but insisted that the risk of transmission in the
community is still quite high despite Vietnam’s great efforts to date.
The National Steering Committee for Prevention
and Control reported that Vietnam has not recorded any new cases since April 17 and
225 out of 268 patients infected have now been given the all-clear.
The three most severe cases – 20, 91 and 161 – have
shown improvements over recent days. Twenty-one patients have tested negative
for the coronavirus at least once, with nine testing negative at least twice.
At a meeting of the committee on April 24, Tran Dac Phu, a
senior adviser to Vietnam’s public health emergency operations centre, said that
in the initial phase the country succeeded in preventing the disease entering
the country from elsewhere. The second phase began when community transmission was
found, and the Prime Minister decided to introduce social
distancing in a timely and strict manner, which prevented COVID-19 from
breaking out on a large scale.
Social distancing alone, however, cannot stop the
pandemic or community transmission, since it only minimises contact between people
and limits the spread, he said.
Citing the results of a study on 245 of the 268
COVID-19 cases in Vietnam, Phu said that more than 40 percent did not exhibit any
symptoms while others only had a cough or a fever. Many tested negative for the
virus but then positive at a later date, which has also been seen in other
countries.
He said it is difficult to identify cases of infection
in the community as some do not exhibit symptoms or only exhibit common
symptoms such as a fever or a cough. These people will remain unknown if they
do not visit hospital for a check-up, and if they have close contact with
others the coronavirus will continue to spread.
With social distancing measures now eased, COVID-19
may still spread in the community, he said, adding that there could be new
infections in the time ahead and large outbreaks must be prevented.
Ministries, sectors, and localities should take
appropriate action to develop the economy and ensure social security, Phu recommended.
Deputy PM Dam, who is also head of the national steering committee, told the meeting of the need for continued vigilance because while Vietnam’s
level of control over the pandemic is good news, there are more than 50,000 new
infections and 5,000 deaths around the world every day, and the disease has broken
out again in many places previously thought to have controlled it thoroughly.
He quoted experts as saying risks remain high
all around the world and there are still people with the virus in the
community.
“We can be happy about the outcome to date and have
trust in our leadership, but we should not forget that we have only won individual
battles, not the whole fight,” he said, while calling on people to continue
complying with the PM’s directions and the health sector’s guidance./.
Source: VietnamPlus
