Vietnam confirmed 1,945 new Covid-19 cases today [July 11], the highest daily infections since the start of the pandemic.

Testing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on July 11. Photo: MoH

Up to 72% of the latest cases are detected in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the epicenter, which enters the third day of the 15-day partial lockdown. The remaining daily infections were found in 33 cities and provinces nationwide.

With today's infections, the national caseload climbed to 29,816, including 43.64% identified in the southern economic hub of HCMC. Specifically, the largest city reported 13,012 cases, followed by Bac Giang 5,714, Bac Ninh 1,663, Binh Duong 1,500, Dong Thap 578, Hanoi 504, Phu Yen 436, Long An 393, and Danang 256.

The death toll stayed at 116.

Ho Chi Minh City on high alert

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh checks anti-pandemic work in Tay Ninh Province on July 11. Photo: Doan Bac

On July 11, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh went to check the fight against Covid-19 in HCMC with an aim to see if the ongoing partial lockdown is effective and on the right track. He reminded the local authorities of ensuring welfare and support for businesses and laborers during the restriction period.

Working with HCMC authorities, Chinh said: “The city is giving the top priority to anti-pandemic work and the Government has given the best to assist its battle.”

Indeed, the Government has assigned deputy prime ministers Truong Hoa Binh and Vu Duc Dam, who is head of the National Standing Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, to oversee the fight against Covid-19 in HCMC.

Today, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed the importance of social distancing in HCMC, warning the local authorities of this precautionary measure in all anti-pandemic activities namely testing, vaccination, doing business, shopping for essential goods, cash payment, among others.

To ensure social distancing, the Ministry of Health has facilitated the inoculation in HCMC by deploying 30 mobile vaccination clinics to accelerate the injection and avoid crowd gathering.

According to the ministry, 1.5 million out of two million US-donated Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doses, which arrived in Hanoi on July 10, have been sent to HCMC and other southern localities. The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) said it would launch the inoculation in two or three weeks. So far, nearly one million doses have been administered in the most populous city.

In another move, Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC on July 11 started providing passengers with testing services, including two options namely antigen rapid testing and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the cost of VND540,000 (US$23) and VND1.69 million ($73), respectively. The results will be returned in 30 minutes and 4 hours for each kind of testing. Under the new aviation regulations, passengers from and to HCMC are required to show testing results.

On the same day, PM Chinh also worked with the southern provinces of Long An and Tay Ninh. Anti-pandemic work remained high on the agenda for the meetings.

Coronavirus cases in Vietnam. Source: MoH. Chart: Minh Vu