Covid-19 weekly update in Vietnam - Week 1 September, 2021

GENERAL SUMMARY
During the past week, Vietnam still has increased cases positive of covid-19. However the number of deaths has decreased and the number of recoveries has gone up.
After more than 20 days “stay where we are”, Da Nang extended the lockdown, allowing the people living in “green zones” to go to the market. For the “green  zones” and “yellow zones”, many necessary industries and services can be worked again, provided that workers have been vaccinated with at least 1 dose of vaccine; PCR test or rapid antigen test 3 days and comply with epidemic prevention and control measures.

Based on the list of people who are granted road permits, the national database is fully updated, in Covid checking spots police only need to scan the QR code to know if people are allowed to go out. This action has been implemented in Ho Chi Minh City and is proposed in Hanoi. According to the Ministry of Health, all people infected with COVID-19 with background diseases, pregnancy, obesity, people over 50 years old, and children under 12 months old must be treated at hospital. In addition, the Ministry of Health also advises F0 patients to have separate eating utensils; wash dishes with hot water and soap; In case F0 needs assistants, they must wear gloves when cleaning food and washing dishes…

HANOI PANDEMIC UPDATES
The number of infections slightly declines, there are still more than 50 infections per day.  In the past 7 days, the total number of infections is 449 in which most of them are from Thanh Xuan Trung ward. In order to control the fast pace of expansion of the virus, Hanoi has completed the relocation of 1,129 people out of the "outbreak" of Thanh Xuan Trung ward. For those left, all have to carry out the lockdown at home; at the same time the medical team usually examines to determine the extent of the disease.

Hanoi continues the lockdown in “red zones” for 15 days from September 6. In the "yellow zones" and "green zones", the capital applies directive 15 to reproduce and support the "red zones".

After a month of urgent construction, the field hospital is activated to treat severe and critical Covid-19 patients in Yen So ward, Hoang Mai district and managed by Hanoi Medical University Hospital. 
Besides, the Ministry of Transportation proposes that transportation, freight and postal activities are only carried out from 9 a.m to 20 p.m. Delivery staff must have a certificate of test results SARS-CoV-2 negative by RT-PCR method or rapid tests SARS-CoV-2 antigen is still valid.

HO CHI MINH CITY PANDEMIC UPDATE
In the past week, Ho Chi Minh city is still the locality with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country. Although on the 3th September, they confirmed the sudden rise of more than 8000 cases per day, this number dropped significantly the next day. Ho Chi Minh  local government and habitants have been doing a good job of dealing with the pandemic. In fact, there is some positive news announced that makes us more optimistic to overcome difficulties during the pandemic. Many patients were cured and discharged from the Ho Chi Minh City Covid-19 Resuscitation Hospital. In which, many serious cases have been spectacularly revived, for example, some elderly patients or pregnant women have many background diseases. A positive sign is that the number of deaths is decreasing sharply. Besides, District 7 and Cu Chi district have controlled the epidemic situation. However, these two districts have not yet been reopened due to the complicated disease situation throughout the city. 
To minimize the risk of infection in the community, in the first half of September, Ho Chi Minh City will deploy the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine for people over 18 years old and the second dose with enough time according to each type of vaccine. Up to now, this city has injected 6.130.000 doses of vaccine to local people (reaching 87,99%). In addition, Ho Chi Minh city is mobilizing the F0 patients who have been recovered from covid-19 to participate in the pandemic prevention. After receiving stable treatment, these people have antibodies in the body that are temporarily immune to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Therefore, they will supplement the health sector, support hygiene and sterilization instructions, support the work of nurses, as well as many other jobs for medical staff to focus on their professional work. 

TOURISM UPDATE
Recently, the Ministry of Politics, the Government and the Prime Minister have had a policy of piloting the use of vaccine passports for international visitors to tourist destinations that can control the pandemic such as Phu Quoc island. A vaccine passport is a paper or digital form certifying that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has actively built a vaccination certification system on its website at https://travelpass.tourism.vn/auth/travelpass, to be ready to welcome international visitors when international tourism activities are reopened. 
With the vaccination certification system integrated into the “Vietnam Safe Travel”  application, users can use the app to declare vaccination certification procedures. At the same time, users have the opportunity to access and take advantage of the ecosystem of smart utilities on the application such as finding safe destinations, updating disease information in localities, safe tourism digital maps, travel insurance, e-tickets, shopping services, tour management, destination discovery…

Stay in touch with Mr Linh’s Adventures for more weekly updates on Vietnam’s pandemic and tourism situation

* Source: Báo VnExpress, Báo Thanh niên, Báo Công an nhân dân, Báo Công an TPHCM, Báo Tuổi trẻ, Báo Giao thông, Vietnamnet, Tổng Cục Du lịch Việt Nam, VTV.
Previous updates
- Week 4, August 2021
- Week 3, August 2021