Vietnam remains a safe country amid the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) epidemic, the Government Portal quoted the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 epidemic prevention at a meeting on February 17.

Experts and members of the committee agreed that the measures taken by Vietnam to deal with Covid-19 have been effective in controlling the pandemic.

At the meeting. Photo: VGP

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health instructed localities and provincial health departments on steps to curb the Covid-19 outbreak.

Currently, epidemic prevention in Vinh Phuc province, where the largest number of infected people in Vietnam has been found, has given positive results. Over the past seven days, no new infections have been detected.

Especially, treatment of Covid-19 patients has progressed. Out of 16 cases (three in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Khanh Hoa, one in Thanh Hoa and 11 in Vinh Phuc), seven patients have been cured and been discharged from hospital. The nine others are still under active treatment.

Of three patients in Ho Chi Minh City, two Chinese nationals have recovered and been discharged from hospital. The other patient was a Vietnamese-American who has tested negative twice; however, due to other diseases, the 73-year-old patient is being kept in the hospital for further monitoring and testing.

Out of 11 patients in Vinh Phuc, five receiving treatment in the Tropical Hospital and National Hospital of Pediatrics have recovered and been released from hospital, the rest are isolated and undergo treatment in the province.

The three-month-old patient at the National Hospital of Pediatrics has also tested negative. Her mother is not infected.

As of February 17, it’s been 30 days that Vietnam's south central province of Khanh Hoa has not detected any new infection of Covid-19 and its provincial authorities are preparing to declare the end of the epidemic.

In the north central provincial of Thanh Hoa, only one infection of Covid-19 has been recorded since January 24. The patient was a Vietnamese worker sent by a Japanese company to Wuhan for training. In the next five days, if no new infection is found in the province, the Ministry of Health will also allow the province to declare free of the epidemic.

Medical experts have confirmed there is no specific medicine or vaccine against the novel coronavirus, though Vietnam has enough capacity, experience and confidence to cure patients.

The WHO said on February 15 that Vietnam has responded well to the epidemic from the very outset, preventing its spread.

As of February 18, the Covid-19 global death toll has climbed to 1,874 and confirmed infections topped 73,335. 12,697 patients have recovered.