Chairing the 17th meeting of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on September 13, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Vietnam’s response to the pandemic must be more flexible.

He said it is key to containing the pandemic and to socioeconomic recovery and development, and noted that the response has been effective, with the pandemic under control, the economy and labor market recovering, national territorial sovereignty and social security ensured.

“It is imperative to maintain efforts to protect people's lives with the principle of adapting flexibly and effectively controlling the pandemic,” Chinh said.

A report from the committee showed that as of September 13, Vietnam has documented more than 11.4 million Covid-19 infections, including 10.3 million recoveries and 43,000 deaths.

In the last week, an average of about 2,900 new cases were confirmed daily, and the number of infections increased again. Meanwhile, there are 190 patients with Covid-19 requiring breathing support.

Two deaths from Covid-19 disease were recorded in the past 24 hours, including one serious patient in Hanoi.

A Covid-19 patient in Hanoi needs breathing support. Photo: The Hanoi Times

Prime Minister Chinh warned of unpredictable pandemic developments in the world. He stressed that vaccination remains a vital solution and highlighted the task of encouraging people to get vaccinated.

As of September 13, nearly 259 million Covid-19 vaccine doses had been injected in Vietnam. The rate of double-dosed people aged over 12 reached almost 100%, 77% of adults have got the third and fourth shot.

Besides, the PM highlighted the need to remove all obstacles in bidding and procurement of medicine, medical equipment and bio-products right in September to avoid the supply disruption caused by cumbersome administrative procedures, legal problems, or a lack of responsibility of public servants.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) was asked to enhance the local healthcare capacity and preventive medicine efficiency, while the Ministry of Education and Training was requested to coordinate with the health sector to ensure the safety of schools and complete the vaccination for the children.

Earlier, on September 12, a new anti-pandemic media campaign on the “new normal” was launched by the MoH in Hanoi, aiming to promote the theme “For a strong and healthy Vietnam”.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong called on all ministries, state agencies, organizations and individuals to jointly take action and increase a sense of responsibility in taking Covid-19 control measures in accordance with the Ministry of Health's revised pandemic guidance.

According to Dr. Shane Fairlie, a specialist from the World Health Organization (WHO) Vietnam, the pandemic is not likely to be fully under control before 2023 as evidenced by the emergence of new highly-infectious variants.

Therefore, Vietnam must continue taking Covid-19 preventive rules in the new normal, Dr. Shane said, adding that vaccination and taking virus control measures remain the most important and necessary solutions.

The media campaign will run until October 31 by the MoH in collaboration with WHO, Unilever Fund Vietnam, Meta Group (Facebook), Zalo Vietnam, and Lotus Vietnam. Various activities are scheduled to be organized on Vietnam’s most popular social networks.