Hanoi has kept recording a steady decrease in daily new Covid-19 infections over the past week [October 24-30], with less than 100 Covid-19 cases, the lowest number of new infections in nearly one year, according to the municipal Department of Health.

The Covid-19 pandemic in the city remains under control, with no fatalities reported; however, the situation is still complicated and unstable, so it is necessary to prepare for unforeseen problems of the pandemic, the department said.

Omicron remains the dominant strain in Hanoi. The Omicron BA.4, BA.5, and BA.2.75 variants account for more than 75% of the total cases, and health officials recommend locals be on high alert for the new sub-variants.

A woman in Hanoi' Dong Da District receives a Covid-19 vaccine dose. Photo: Pham Hung/ The Hanoi Times

The local health sector stressed that it is necessary to continue actively monitoring the pandemic situation and the appearance of new coronavirus strains.

It cited the World Health Organization (WHO) that the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of the Omicron strain are likely to spread more rapidly than previous variants.

New variants BA.2.74, BA.2.75, BA.2.76, BQ.1, and the latest XBB have more potential to evade some immune defenses than Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, leading to the risk of outbreaks again, WHO said.

The organization recommends that the currently-licensed vaccines still have a high protective value and could reduce the risk of severe transmission for all SARS-CoV-2 virus variants.

Therefore, to better cope with the pandemic, more than 22 million third doses have been injected into adults in Hanoi city, reaching almost 99%. More than 55% of children aged 12 to 17 were administered the third dose.

The local health sector still prioritizes further speeding up the progress of vaccination against coronavirus to ensure people’s safety in the future.

The department called on local agencies to strictly implement pandemic prevention and control measures, including regularly assessing risk factors and proactively working out scenarios in response to all possible pandemic situations.

On October 29, Vietnam logged an additional 263 new infections, totaling nearly 11.5 million since the pandemic broke out, ranking 13th out of 230 countries and territories in terms of infections.

This is the lowest number of new cases in one day in nearly a year and is the seventh day in October that the number of new infections is below 500 (the lowest being October 23 with 158 cases).

As of October 30, more than 261 million Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the country. Around 23 million have been injected into children aged 12 to 17, and some 17 million in kids between 5 to 11.

Vietnam has fully opened its borders to international visitors since mid-March. The move allows the country to carry out its recovery plans in the new normal, with bustling production and tourism activities.