New COVID-19 cases tend to rise: official

A health worker explains about COVID-19 vaccine for a resident. (Photo: VNA) Đa 

Hanoi (VNA) – The number of COVID-19 cases has increased rapidly since the
beginning of April, said Prof Phan Trong Lan, director of the
Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health (MoH), at a conference
on the pandemic prevention and combat held on April 17 in Hanoi.

In the first week of April, Vietnam recorded 278 cases, but the second week saw 2,000 new ones. On April 17 alone, the country documented as many as 1,031 , a record in the past
nearly six months,

A total
of 2,070 new cases were reported across the nation in the first three
months of this year, with 160 recorded per week on average.

No fatality has been documented over the past 108 days. The
total number of deaths due to the COVID-19 was 43,186, or 0.4% of the total
infections.

Regarding
the treatment of COVID-19 patients, Nguyen Trong Khoa, Deputy Director of the
Department of Medical Examination and Treatment under the MoH, said the department
is coordinating with experts to review treatment guidelines.

A COVID-19 patient requires oxygen support. (Photo: VNA)

Nguyen Thanh Ha, deputy director of the National
Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said the number of the patients of the pandemic being hospitalised
has been rising remarkably since the beginning of April. The hospital received 47
cases in the first week and 85 in the second week. On April 17 afternoon, it was treating 146 cases, including 21 severe ones.

At the conference, Minister of
Health Dao Hong Lan requested an early meeting of the professional
council to review and update and dissemination.

Units were asked to review the
contents relating to licensing, procurement, allocating and transferring equipment, drugs
and vaccines in line with their assigned tasks so that they can take the initiative
in prevention.

The dissemination of messages on COVID-19
prevention and control should be sped up to raise people’s awareness of the
issue, particularly their compliance with the “2K” message – khau trang
(facemask) and khu khuan (disinfection)./.