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Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, representing the Vietnamese Government, received the COVID-19 vaccine batch at the airport.
966,320 doses, in a total of 13 bales, with a volume of about 3.3 tonnes will be transported to Ho Chi Minh City today, under the direction of the Prime Minister.
National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is responsible for arranging the earliest flight to transport the vaccines for free.
Facing complicated epidemic developments in Ho Chi Minh City, the health sector continues to support the city in implementing measures to prevent and control the outbreaks. On June 16, at a working session with the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son assigned the Pasteur Institute to coordinate and support the city to soon deploy rapid test measures for exposed subjects as soon as positive cases appear in order to quickly classify risk and implement appropriate measures for each group.
It is necessary to coordinate with the city's health sector to quickly implement more comprehensive testing measures when necessary to promptly serve tracing and epidemiological investigation, while developing a master plan on mobilising human resources and testing equipment from units under the Ministry of Health to be ready to respond when needed.
On the same day, Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued an urgent document urging Thu Duc City and other districts to strengthen their implementation of Directive 15/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister to localise and stamp out the epidemic, while limiting the infection sources of newly arising infected clusters. As of June 16 afternoon, the city had recorded more than 1,000 community-transmitted cases since April 27.
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Chemical soldiers of Military Zone 4 spray disinfectant in Hung Dung ward, Vinh City, Nghe An province. (Photo: NDO/Thanh Chau)
Faced the complicated situation of the epidemic, Nghe An province has decided to apply strict social distancing order on Vinh City and Dien Chau district under Directive 15 from 0:00 today, while setting up a field hospital in Hung Nguyen district. Previously, Nghe An had blocked off a number of residential groups and applied social distancing in two wards of Vinh City.
In the neighbouring province of Ha Tinh, Hanoi Medical University Hospital has sent a delegation of medical staff to support Ha Tinh, focusing mainly on resuscitation expertise and emergency tracing, screening, investigation and testing. The hospital is also committed to providing the necessary medical equipment and supplies for the locality in each period and specific needs, giving maximum priority to serving the pandemic prevention work.
By June 16, Bac Giang province had 68 COVID-19 patients discharged from hospital, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,187. Currently, Bac Giang is treating more than 2,000 COVID-19 patients, of which 303 tested negative for the first time and 96 negative for the second time.
In order to reduce the overload of epidemic prevention work in Bac Giang, Lai Chau province will repatriate nearly 1,000 local residents who are guest workers residing in Bac Giang. On the morning of June 16, the first 24 among them returned to Lai Chau, all having performed medical isolation in Bac Giang from May 17 with six negative tests for SARS-CoV-2. They are now in a centralised isolation in Lai Chau City, waiting for the safety testing results.
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A priority subject gets his first shot against COVID-19 at the Centre for Disease Control of Ca Mau province. (Photo: NDO/Huu Tung)
On the same day, Ca Mau health sector deployed the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination for priority subjects. A total of more than 18,750 people will be vaccinated this time. Of which, the first injection is being given to over 16,600 frontline forces and second doses offered to more than 2,100 others. Up to now, Ca Mau has received over 26,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine distributed from the central government. In the first phase, Ca Mau vaccinated 11,268 people and all injections took place safely.
Provinces and cities with COVID-19 prevalence will be allocated 288,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. The Government will soon issue a resolution on the purchase of the entire amount of AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca at a non-profit price, including the 288,000 doses received by Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) from the producer. On the afternoon of June 16, the Ministry of Health worked with VNVC on allocating the shipment of 288,100 doses that VNVC has received from AstraZeneca, for which priority will be given to provinces and cities currently hit by the pandemic.
