The health sector must remain well-prepared for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and encourage people to uphold vigilance against the disease as the pandemic is forecast to last until the end of 2021, local media quoted Acting Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long as saying at an online conference on October 13.

Acting Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long speaks at the meeting. Photo: MoH

The acting minister said that although Vietnam has not recorded community transmission of the coronavirus for more than 40 consecutive days, there is a high risk that the disease can be imported.

“It is now important for us to put in place all necessary measures to combat the pandemic in winter,” Mr. Long said, adding that all localities should review their anti-pandemic scenarios, including the worst one.

The health official again stressed the five principles in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, which are preventing infection, detecting infected cases, quarantining suspected ones and confirmed infection cases, treating Covid-19 patients together with isolating and stamping out outbreaks.

He added that the most important thing now is to prevent the pandemic from being brought in by incoming people, especially when Vietnam allows the entry of foreign experts and Vietnamese nationals.

At the conference, experts shared experiences and lessons drawn from the fight against Covid-19. They also heard reports on the pandemic’s evolution and the monitoring process for arrivals from abroad.

As of October 14, Vietnam has recorded 1,113 Covid-19 cases, of them the total number of recovered patients is 1,026. The death toll remains at 35.

A total of 13,845 people who had close contacts with Covid-19 patients or arrived from pandemic-hit regions are being quarantined nationwide, with 143 at hospitals, 12,451 at concentrated facilities and 1,251 at home or in accommodation establishments.