Vietnam basically assessed as COVID-19 safe zone: Ministry
Vietnam is basically assessed as a COVID-19 ‘green zone’ – an area where the coronavirus is under control, the Ministry of Health has announced.
According to the ministry’s latest COVID-19 risk level statistics, among over 10,600 communes and wards assessed, 90.7% are identified as ‘green zones’, 7.8% ‘yellow zones’, and only 1.5% ‘red zones’.
On July 26, the ministry reported 1,460 new infections – the highest in the past 70 days.
In the face of the pandemic resurgence in some countries, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered COVID-19 vaccination be sped up in an official dispatch sent to the People’s Committees of provinces and cities nationwide, ministries, ministry-level and government agencies.
So far, more than 240 million vaccine doses have been administered in Vietnam with large coverage of the first and second doses, which has greatly helped bring the pandemic under control nationwide.
However, the dispatch noted, many localities and agencies have lowered their guards while authorities in some places haven’t worked drastically enough, making the vaccination progress lag behind schedule.
Meanwhile, the pandemic remains complicated and unpredictable in the world, and new waves of infections have occurred in several countries. Vietnam has continued to record cases of Omicron’s new sub-variants, BA.4 and BA.5, and is facing risks of new outbreaks.
Assigning tasks to the Ministry of Health, other ministries and localities, he demanded a vaccination campaign be launched to complete inoculation for children aged 5 - 11 in August, finish the administration of the third and fourth doses to people aged 18 and above as soon as possible, and accelerate the third shots for those aged 12 - 17.
Vaccination must be completed early for health workers, the public security and military forces, teachers, as well as those working in the transport sector, essential service supply, tourism, trade centres, supermarkets, markets, businesses, and industrial parks.
In the dispatch, the Government leader also asked for more communications about vaccination, new sub-variants of Omicron and healthcare guidance, along with stronger examination, supervision and promotion of inoculation activities.