Residents are vaccinated against Covid-19 at the Lanh Binh Thang outdoor stadium in HCMC’s District 11. The city has proposed the Ministry of Health provide it with more Covid-19 vaccine doses - PHOTO: TNO

HCMC – HCMC has suggested the Ministry of Health provide it with more Covid-19 vaccine doses and simplify the vaccination procedures to accelerate the inoculation drive, according to the HCMC Center for Disease Control (HCDC).

HCDC said this morning, July 29, that from July 22 to 27, the city has given shots to some 300,000 people in its fifth vaccination round, including 30,000 aged over 65, 21,000 people in priority groups and 243,000 others. On July 27 alone, some 70,000 residents got vaccinated, Tuoi Tre Online newspaper reported.

At a press briefing on July 26, HCMC Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc said the city started the fifth round of vaccination on July 22. By July 25, over 170,000 doses were administered and the figure increased to 300,000 as of July 27. Thus, 130,000 doses were injected in only two days.

The remaining 600,000 doses will be administered within one to two weeks.

In the upcoming days, vaccination sites will be open after 6 p.m. to speed up the city’s vaccination drive although it has banned all residents from going out after 6 p.m. without a legitimate reason since July 26.

In the current coronavirus outbreak, the city has recorded more than 78,900 cases, with 70%-80% of them showing no symptoms and recovering from the disease themselves. In addition, the high number of Covid patients and direct contacts of confirmed cases has caused an overload at quarantine centers.

Therefore, the city has allowed these cases to stay at home.