Covid-19 Weekly Update in Vietnam - Week 2 October 2021

The epidemic situation across the country has made clear changes and has been basically controlled. Provinces and cities have both effectively controlled and prevented the epidemic, while recovering and developing socio-economically.

General summary
According to the Ministry of Health, provinces that are applying social distance have managed to keep the pandemic under control. There has been a dramatic reduction in the number of new infections and deaths. In particular, the number of cases in the community has reduced by 47.3% and the number of deaths has decreased by 30% in the last week. Up to now, only 9% of COVID-19 patients are being treated; 91% of the patients have recovered. It is reasonable to conclude that the epidemic is basically under control on a national scale.

In terms of the vaccination process, about 51.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the country, with 23.8 million people receiving one dose and 13.8 million receiving two complete doses. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health has a vaccination program in place for teenagers. Among the COVID-19 vaccines approved in Vietnam, only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for injection in children aged 12 to 18 years old. According to Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan, the ministry is preparing guidelines and plans to begin implementing COVID-19 vaccine for children in October of this year. To meet the needs of teenagers aged 12 to 18, Vietnam plans to order an additional 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccination.

With the approval of 16 provinces and cities to restart domestic routes, including Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, Nghe An, Dien Bien, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa, Ca Mau, Phu Quoc (Kien Giang). The aviation sector will reopen 19 routes with 38 round-trip flights each day beginning from October 10. As for Hanoi city, there will only be flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Can Tho.
Passengers must acquire these following conditions to take the flight:
 +) Be fully vaccinated at least 2 weeks before the flight
 +) Recover from Covid-19 at least 6 months before the flight
 +) Have a negative test result for Covid-19 within 72 hours, with no sign of COVID-19 symptoms such as cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle soreness, or sore throat.
At the same time, international flights have not yet resumed
HANOI PANDEMIC UPDATE
After nearly 20 days of officially easing social distancing restrictions, Hanoi is gradually and gently entering the "new normal" status. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the cluster of cases at Viet Duc hospital has been controlled and all patients and their family members have been vaccinated.  Furthermore, the CDC stated that "zero" Covid is now very impossible to achieve, but will try to keep the number of cases in the community as low as possible. In terms of vaccinations, the city has injected 8,459,420 doses. In particular, the rate of people who have received 1 dose is 102.79% (5,906,277 injections), 44.44% for people who have injected two full doses (2,553,143 injections).

In order to strengthen measures against COVID-19, as well as to prevent its spread, Hanoi city has implemented measures to make medical declarations or scan QR codes for customers when they come to shop at shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, essential goods stores, and markets. All businesses and service establishments must operate under the supervision of local authorities and must close before 9 p.m. every day. Furthermore, they must strictly follow all pandemic prevention measures, including 5K for staff and requiring consumers to limit direct contact. Up to now, Hanoi has nearly 566 thousand QR Code scanning locations for epidemic prevention.

HO CHI MINH CITY PANDEMIC UPDATE
About 10 days after Ho Chi Minh City eased social distancing, according to directive 18 of the Ministry of Health, the city's pandemic situation has had positive developments, leading to a sharp decrease in the number of patients recorded across the country. October 10, 2021 is the day the city recorded the lowest number of cases in many months. People's lives have returned to a normal rhythm,the production and business establishments have also reopened. 

The number of people leaving the city to return to their homeland is increasing, causing a labor shortage. However, local authorities are also trying to help bring them back to their home safely. Along with that, the Ministry of Health proposed that Ho Chi Minh City arrange for human resources to support COVID-19 prevention and control to return to the local working place before October 15. Facing this situation, Ho Chi Minh City prepared a plan in advance  to take over hospitals and to assume their duties in the "new situation".
Ho Chi Minh City will stop operating field hospitals that have completed their tasks and reopen their doors to receive other patients for treatment. Ho Chi Minh City also has a pilot to pay fees for private medical facilities participating in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. However, these hospitals are allowed to charge for treatment if the patient commits to voluntarily pay without using the state budget.

Regarding the vaccination situation, it is expected that the city will vaccinate children aged 12-17 starting from October. The Ministry of Health in collaboration with Facebook Group officially launched the communication campaign "Vaccination - Stay Faithful". The campaign will include a series of content and activities implemented between now and the end of 2021, to convey a strong message about vaccination against COVID-19 to protect yourself, your families and society as a whole. TOURISM UPDATE
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in order to restart to welcome international tourists, we must first restore tourism activities in low-risk areas "level 1 - safe destinations", move towards "connecting safe destinations for tourism", with appropriate steps and control in the condition of proactive and flexible adaptation, effectively controlling the COVID-19 epidemic.

About welcoming international guests, the reopening period in Phu Quoc will be from November 2021 to March 2022. After that, the pilot will be expanded to a number of other destinations meeting requirements such as Ha Long (Quang Ninh), Hoi An (Quang Nam), Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), Da Lat (Lam Dong).... In particular, the target will be international tourists from key markets with good disease control and vaccination capacity.  According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Doan Van Viet, the localities need to be fully aware of both the challenges and opportunities when opening their doors, with appropriate measures and roadmaps, step by step firmly in the conditions of safe, flexible adaptation and effective disease control.

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

*Source : moh.gov.vn, dantri.com, nld.com.vn, VnExpress, HCDC, Sở Y Tế, Báo Tiền phong, Vietnamnet.
Previous weeks updates
- Week 1. October 2021
- Week 4. September 2021