The count of new Covid-19 cases will keep rising and the pandemic in Vietnam is forecast to reach its peak in the next ten days, VnExpress quoted Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son as saying late on August 5.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son. Photo: Gia Chinh/VNE

Son said the second phase of Covid-19 pandemic since late July is much more difficult to handle than the previous one. In the first phase, the major outbreak emerged at Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, but only several employees of Truong Sinh Company, which provided catering services at the hospital, and some nurses were infected.

The second Covid-19 phase also started at healthcare centers, three hospitals in Danang. However, a great number of people have been infected as the virus was transmitted from patients to their family members as well as health workers in the three hospitals. Worse still, nearly dozen seriously ill patients have died and many are still in critical condition.

Besides patients who have been traced, there are some patients who are not related to the above-mentioned hospitals. Therefore, it's more difficult to trace, zone and stamp out the pandemic than in the first phase, the deputy minister said.

“We are not allowed to be unguarded and drastic tracing and isolation efforts are underway,” Mr. Son warned.

He added that in the current period, besides using tracing tools to detect people who have made close contact with Covid-19 patients and isolate them, testing is key to find out positive cases in the community.

"For the epicenter in Danang, it is necessary to conduct testing and find people who are infected with coronavirus. Testing helps trace new and potential Covid-19 patients," said the deputy minister.

He expressed his hope that all Vietnamese citizens will abide by the pandemic prevention rules and believe in the efforts of the health sector in controlling Covid-19.

Vietnam had gone 99 consecutive days without a single community transmission case of Covid-19 before a community infection in Danang was officially confirmed on July 25.

At the time of writing, the nation’s Covid-19 caseload has reached 747, of them ten have died while no deaths were recorded in the first infection wave, according to the Ministry of Health.