Illustrative image (Photo: nhandan.vn)HCM
City (VNA) – The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health reported on
January 24 that the city’s has detected
the emergence of sub-variant JN.1 of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in hospitalised patients in
December last year in the locality.
JN.1 is a sub-variant from the BA.2.86 variant
of Omicron classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “variant
of Interest” (VOI), which is the cause of the increasing number of cases and
deaths in some countries.
According to data from the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control (HCDC) from December 18, 2023, to January 22, 2024, local hospitals treated
94 COVID-19 cases from the city and several adjacent localities. Among the
in-patients, 17 severe cases require supplemental oxygen. All the severe cases involve individuals in the high-risk group with serious underlying diseases, and have not been vaccinated with enough COVID-19 vaccine doses following
instructions from the Ministry of Health.
Notably, the number of hospitalised cases at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Tropical Diseases due to the pandemic has increased
in the last six weeks.
The
municipal Department of Health said the JN.1 sub-variant appeared in the city
after the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) reported it as the fastest growing variant and dominate in the
US in December last year.
In December 2023, nearly 10,000 deaths from
were reported worldwide while the number of hospitalised cases surged
42% from the previous month. New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have
continuously mutated, and sub-variant JN.1 is spreading rapidly around the
globe, according to WHO.
In Vietnam, the northern region is now in the
transitional period between winter and spring, when cold and dry weather is
alternated with wet weather, triggering infectious diseases, especially
respiratory ones.
It warned that the coming Lunar New Year
(Tet) holidays and spring festive season, when trading and travel demand
surges, along with abnormal weather changes are favourable conditions for
diseases to spread, particularly among children with weak immunity and the
elderly with comorbidities, who are more vulnerable to infectious
diseases.
The municipal Department of Health advised residents to take
measures to protect themselves, their families and the community, including
wearing a mask in medical facilities and crowded places or when having
respiratory symptoms, regularly washing hands with soap or hand sanitiser, and rinsing
mouth and throat with mouthwash.
People, especially those in at-risk groups, are recommended to get booster shots against COVID-19./.
Source: VietnamPlus
