Barriers and police-managed checkpoints were set up around the Kim Chung facility of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Dong Anh district, Hanoi, on May 6 as the hospital was locked down after a dozen COVID-19 infections were found. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Seven
linked to the Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical
Diseases’ cluster are infected with the variant of coronavirus first
reported in India.
The National Institute of
Hygiene and Epidemiology on May 11 announced the results of the genetic
sequencing for eight samples taken from COVID-19 patients submitted by four
northern provinces – two from Vinh Phuc, two from Bac Ninh, two from Lang
Son, and one from Nam Dinh – and the Indian strain showed up in seven.
The variant B1.617, which the
(WHO) classified on May10 as a “variant of concern,”
has demonstrated higher spreading capabilities among humans, according to some
preliminary studies, but further research is still needed to explore the
variant’s transmissibility, disease severity and whether it could make existing
COVID-19 vaccines less effective.
An official from the National Hospital for Tropical
Diseases – its second facility in Dong Anh district currently under
lockdown – said the origin of its current outbreak could come from the
treatment ward, infecting patients in other faculties and patients’ family
relatives who came to take care of them from many northern localities.
Earlier this month, the
institute’s genome probe also indicated the outbreak related to Sunny Club in Vinh
Phuc, which is caused by two visiting Chinese experts who in turn have likely
contracted the disease from another group of Indian experts during the time
they stay at the same quarantine hotel in Yen Bai province, is of Indian
variant.
The other sample from a COVID-19
patient in Hai Duong who has illegally entered Vietnam from Laos showed the
B1.1.7 variant which was first reported in the UK./.
Source: VietnamPlus
