HCM City monitors foreign arrivals, no Omicron cases detected

The information was unveiled on December 13 at a regular meeting of the HCM City Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Genome sequencing shows all nine foreigners have been infected with the common Delta strain, not Omicron, said Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, an official of the HCM City Department of Health, playing down worried about a possibility of a new virus outbreak in the city.

Ho Chi Minh City is currently the largest coronavirus hotspot in Vietnam as it has so far confirmed nearly 500,000 infections or around one third of the country’s total.

It has tightened COVID-19 prevention and control measures at all border gates to prevent Omicron penetrate its territory.

First detected in South Africa not long ago, the new variant has bene found in more than 60 countries and territories across the globe, according to the World Health Organization.  

Given the current available data, it is likely that Omicron will outpace the Delta variant where community transmission occurs, WHO said in a document.

The variant might reduce the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines based on preliminary data, but this strain is less dangerous than Delta, it added.