Vietnam news

Vietnam is currently applying a coronavirus risk system that categorizes regions into four groups: those with low, medium, high and very high coronavirus risks. Criteria include the number of coronavirus cases within the community recorded per week, vaccination coverage and medical capabilities.

Regions with low coronavirus risks will see most Covid-19 restrictions lifted, while those with higher risks see social distancing requirements and the suspension of non-essential activities, like massage parlors, bars, clubs, movie theaters, and even on-site dining services.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Health updated the guideline on coronavirus risk assessment, this time adjusting certain criteria and making some more detailed than before.

The first criterion, which entails the number of new coronavirus cases, has three components: the rate of new infections, the rate of patients requiring oxygen support and death rates. Previously, this criterion only counted the number of new cases per week.

Additionally, it would take more new infections for a region to increase its coronavirus risk level. In accordance with the old guideline, a region with 150 new community cases per 100,000 people per week would have a very high coronavirus risk. With the new guideline, a region must have over 600 new community cases per 100,000 people per week to be graded as having a very high coronavirus risk.

The second criterion, vaccination coverage, has two components: At least 75 percent of the population must be fully vaccinated, and at least 90 percent of people vulnerable to Covid-19, for example the elderly and those with underlying conditions, must be fully vaccinated.

Previously, the rates of vaccination coverage depended on the number of adults who have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, and the number of elderly people being fully vaccinated.

The final criterion, medical capabilities, has three components: Treatment readiness for Covid-19 patients, the number of empty beds for Covid-19 patients, and the number of ICU beds with full staff numbers to attend them.

The new guideline requires that there must be at least four ICU beds per 100,000 people for each locality. If localities don’t have enough ICU beds, their coronavirus risk would increase by one level.

A region’s coronavirus risk level would be assessed based on its infection and medical capability statistics, with heavier emphasis on treatment capabilities. For example, a region with high treatment capacity will still classify to be at low coronavirus risk despite its infection level corresponding with a medium coronavirus risk. On the other hand, a region with low treatment capacity will still classify to be at high coronavirus risk despite its infection level corresponding with medium coronavirus risk only.

“We now have the basis to be confident,” PM Chinh told a government meeting with authorities in 63 cities and provinces Thursday.

So far, 76.7 percent of the nation’s 96-million population have received two vaccine doses.

However, he also warned about existing risks, especially with Vietnam having detected Omicron infections in the community.

Vietnam has recorded over 160 Omicron infections nationwide. Of them, six are community transmission cases, with five in HCMC and one in Hanoi, and the rest are all imported.

“We absolutely must not become negligent or let our guard down during the upcoming Tet holiday,” Chinh said.

Vietnamese will enjoy a nine-day break from Jan. 29 to Feb. 6 for this year’s Lunar New Year, called Tet in Vietnam.

The PM also highlighted the request to speed up vaccination progress throughout the Tet break to achieve the target of immunizing all children aged 12-17 with two vaccine doses within this month and offer the third dose to all people from 18 upward.

Vietnam has resumed most domestic activities and eased border restrictions.

Regular commercial flights have been resumed between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, Phnom Penh, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo from Jan. 1 and plans to resume more routes to Europe in the future.

Under current regulations, fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from Covid-19 arriving in Vietnam only need to self-isolate for three days.

Everyone, except children below two, must have tested negative for the novel coronavirus using the PCR method within 72 hours before departure.

In the latest wave that hit the country in late April, 2.16 million cases have been confirmed and 1.92 million of them have recovered.

Since the pandemic started last year, the death toll in Vietnam has climbed to 37,165, or 1.7 percent of all infections.

The three localities with the highest numbers of new cases are Hanoi with 2,907 cases, Da Nang with 873 cases and the northern province of Bac Ninh with 794 cases.

Vietnam has recorded 166 Covid-19 infections with the Omicron variant so far, with 92 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, 27 in Quang Nam, 14 in Hanoi, 11 in Khanh Hoa, eight in Da Nang, four in Kien Giang, two each in Quang Ninh and Thanh Hoa, and one each in Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong and Lam Dong. Six of them are community transmission cases.

126 deaths were added to the national database on Thursday, with 31 cases in Hanoi, 11 each in HCMC and Vinh Long, six each in Soc Trang, Dong Thap and An Giang, five in Hau Giang, four each in Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Binh Thuan, Tien Giang and Kien Giang, three each in Khanh Hoa, Binh Duong, Can Tho and Ca Mau, two each in Hai Duong, Thai Nguyen, Da Nang, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh and Bac Lieu, and one each in Quang Ninh, Binh Dinh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Dak Lak and Ben Tre.

The total number of deaths so far is 37,291 cases, or 1.7 percent of all infections.

21,002 Covid-19 patients were announced recovered on Thursday, bringing the number of recovered cases to 1,945,611.

78.9 million people have received one Covid-19 vaccine shots, 73.9 million have received two and 26.6 million have received three.