Bac Giang basically puts COVID-19 under control

The northern province of Bac Giang, one of the largest hotbeds for COVID-19 infections in the current wave, has basically put the outbreak under control, according to the local authorities.

Lang Son City Medical Centre screens local workers returning from the epidemic-hit Bac Giang Province. (Photo: NDO/Hung Trang)
Lang Son City Medical Centre screens local workers returning from the epidemic-hit Bac Giang Province. (Photo: NDO/Hung Trang)

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At a meeting on June 10, leaders of Bac Giang Province highly appreciated the enthusiastic participation, responsibility and sacrifice of medical staff and experts from the Ministry of Health in supporting the province in the fight against COVID-19.

At the working session before the special task force from the ministry officially withdrew from the province, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son, who is in charge of the force, suggested that Bac Giang supplement Bac Giang Obstetrics and Children's Hospital with additional PCR testing machines to perform testing after a delegation of the Pasteur Institute Nha Trang withdrew.

Experts from the unit emphasised that in the near future, besides continuing to relax the strict social distancing regulations in districts across the province, Bac Giang still needs to pay close attention to Viet Yen District, as it is still a "hot spot".

Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the status quo in Viet Yen District for another two to three weeks to ensure community safety, production safety, and the safety of people across the province, they suggested.

Lang Son Provincial Department of Health has welcomed back 366 local workers who returned from COVID-19 hit Bac Giang Province to continue their self-isolation and health monitoring. It is expected that on June 10 and 11, more than 1,000 Lang Son workers will be returned to their hometowns.

On June 10, the Standing Board of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) sent an official dispatch to request religious organisations to continue to coordinate with the VFF and mass organisations in stepping up their participation in the prevention and control of COVID-19 with specific, strong and drastic actions.

The Vietnam Military Medical University said that the first 19 volunteers were injected with the Nano Covax vaccine in phase 3 on the afternoon of June 10. After the injection, all the volunteers were healthy, with no abnormal problems. They will return for the second dose after 28 days. 42 days after the first dose, volunteers will be sampled to evaluate the immunogenicity of the vaccine. In phase 3, the Nano Covax vaccine will be tested on 13,000 volunteers.

During the day, the VFF Committees of provinces and cities continued to launch and receive resources to support the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic. The Thanh Hoa VFF Committee has received over VND2 trillion to support the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Fund.

Long An Province currently has nearly 1.3 million people aged 18 and over who need to be vaccinated, corresponding to more than 2.8 million doses, at a total estimated budget about VND1.2 trillion. Currently, benefactors have pledged to support Long An with a total of VND 24.4 billion and 71,000 doses of vaccines. On June 10, sponsors transferred more than VND7.5 billion to the Covid-19 Vaccine Fund in Long An.

A ceremony was held in Hanoi on June 10 to receive donations in cash and kind from the Steve Bui & Friends Foundation, the Phuong Long Nhien Co. Ltd., and the Cosmos Japan Creation JSC in support of Vietnam’s fight against COVID-19. The Foreign Ministry’s State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs received VND50 million for the COVID-19 vaccine fund as well as 500 mineral spray bottles worth VND100 million, and 5,040 alkaline ionised water bottles valued at VND126 million to support frontline medical staff in the northern provinces of Bac Giang and Bac Ninh.

On June 10, the Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico held a donation campaign to support the Vietnam’s COVID-19 Prevention Fund.

The Ministry of Health reported 51 more COVID-19 infections this morning, June 11, including 10 imported cases that were quarantined right upon their arrival in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

Among the 41 locally-transmitted cases, 10 each were found in Bac Giang Province and Ho Chi Minh City, and four each in the provinces of Bac Ninh and Ha Tinh.

The number of domestic and imported infections stood at 8,206 and 1,629 respectively. Of the total, 6,636 were recorded since the beginning of the fourth wave of COVID-19 on April 27.

Among the active patients, 267 have tested negative for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 once, 96 twice and 55 thrice.

Currently, 184,749 people who have had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients are under quarantine nationwide.

Seventeen provinces that were hit by the pandemic have gone through 14 days without new infections.

On June 10, an additional 18,817 people received COVID-19 vaccine shots in 17 provinces and cities. So far, more than 1.41 million vaccine doses have been injected. The number of those who have received two shots is 50,023.