HCM City sees sharp fall in numbers of COVID-19 deaths, hospitalised patients

HCM City (VNA)
– The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Ho Chi Minh City has seen higher efficiency as the numbers of new cases, severe patients and deaths have decreased while the number of discharged patients has increased rapidly, said a municipal official.

 

Speaking at a press conference held by HCM City’s Steering Committee for Prevention and Control on September 26, Chief of Office of the municipal Department of
Health Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai said 3,512 patients
were hospitalised on September 25, a sharp decline compared to the previous days.

The number of seriously ill patients who need support of ventilators fell to 1,918 on September 25 compared to 2,037 on September 23 and 2,174 on September
21, she said.

The number of fatalities also saw a remarkable drop, with
131 deaths recorded on September 26 compared to more than 350 cases in late August, Mai stressed.

The number of patients
discharged from hospitals has also been on the rise. On September 25, 3,495 patients were declared to be free from coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, an increase of 700-800 cases compared to 5-6 days ago.

The positive signals in pandemic prevention and control were also reflected in the
declining rate of positive cases detected through mass testing.

According to Deputy Director of the city’s Centre
for Disease Control Nguyen Hong Tam, the city began mass testing on
September 22 and an average of 1 million samples have been taken a day. The number of positive cases has decreased
gradually.

Specifically, the positive rate for SARS-CoV-2 was 0.2 percent in “green
zones” on September 22, compared to 0.1 percent on September 25. Notably, in “orange
zones”, only 0.3 percent of the tested cases were positive for SARS-CoV-2, while
on September 22, this rate was 0.6 percent. Similarly, test results in “red zones” showed that the rate of for SARS-CoV-2
dropped sharply to only 0.4 percent, from 0.7 percent on September 22.

Facing such positive changes
in the fight against the pandemic, the city’s Department of Health would devise
measures that closely follow the real situation. The department plans to
reduce the number of COVID-19 and resume normal operations of facilities which were previously designated to only treat COVID-19 patients.

Mai said the city would
restructure the three levels in COVID-19 treatment facilities and retain those
associated with resuscitation centres, including Treatment Hospital No 13, 14
and 16./.