Testing (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The
Ministry of Health has proposed continuing to keep COVID-19 in , not an endemic disease in its latest draft on COVID-19 prevention and control measures in the new situation.
Regarding the reason why COVID-19 has not been
considered an endemic disease in Vietnam yet, the said that most countries in the world are in
a state of unstable cases and deaths, with an erratic increase and decrease
trend when new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appear. At the same time,
acquired immunity (due to vaccines and infection) has not been stable for a
long time and decreases over time.
In Vietnam, more than 9 million new cases were
reported in the first seven months of this year, with over 33,000 cases in July
alone, up 22.4% from June. Cases of sub variants BA.4,
BA.5 have been recorded and began to account for a large proportion in southern
provinces. Meanwhile, the rates of booster shot vaccination and vaccination
among children were low in some localities.
The rise in new cases could cause overload of the
health system, particularly in the context of other diseases such as influenza
type A and dengue fever now entering peak season and the risk of new infectious
diseases like monkeypox.
At the same time, it
suggested step by step easing pandemic prevention and control measures in a
flexible manner.
The ministry has also built plans to respond to
different scenarios of COVID-19 in 2022 and 2023 based on the ’s strategic preparedness and response plan for
COVID-19.
It urged enhancing vigilance against new variants of the
SARS-CoV-2 virus and staying prepared to respond to any possible pandemic scenarios,
along with accelerating the pace of vaccination of booster shots and basic
doses for children from 5 to under 12 years old./.
Source: VietnamPlus
