A batch of 1,113,400 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in Ho Chi Minh City Friday morning under a contract signed with the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC).

Vietnam reports 9,180 new Covid-19 cases on August 13

The Ministry of Health recorded 9,180 new cases of Covid-19, including 30 imported ones, in the past 24 hours to 6 pm on August 13, a reduction of 503 against the previous day. Also on August 13, 3,593 Covid-19 patients were given the all-clear, raising the number of recoveries to 92,738.

Of the new cases, Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest hotspot, reported the highest number at 3,531, followed by Binh Duong province with 2,816, Dong Nai 808, and Long An 623. The capital city of Hanoi logged 97 cases.

1.1 mln AstraZeneca vaccine doses arrive in Vietnam

A batch of 1,113,400 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in Ho Chi Minh City Friday morning under a contract signed with the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC). The batch is the eighth delivered to Vietnam under the contract between AstraZeneca and VNVC for the supply of 30 million vaccine doses. The consignment landed at the Tan Son Nhat Airport and have been placed in cold storage. They would be handed over to the Health Ministry for distribution, the VNVC said.

VNVC has so far received over 5.5 million vaccine doses, and batches have kept coming every week from July 9. The first two batches came in February and May. Vietnam has received over 19 million Covid-19 vaccine doses so far, through contracts, global vaccine access mechanism Covax, or foreign aid.

The country has administered over 12 million people with at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. Over a million have been fully vaccinated. Vietnam aims to vaccinate 70 percent of its 96 million population by next year, procuring at least 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the purpose.

Government establishes working group on Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy

A government working group on Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, has been set up under a decision signed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The team is tasked with mobilizing donated vaccines, treatment drugs, and medical supplies for Covid-19 prevention and control, and technology transfer for vaccine and drug production from bilateral and multilateral partners.

It will also seek, support, and promote negotiations, import, and reception of Covid-19 vaccines, treatment drugs, medical supplies as well as vaccine and drug production technology transfer. The group will also submit recommendations to the Prime Minister with the aim of accessing these items as much as possible in the fastest and earliest way.

At the same time, the team will actively approach and hold dialogues, and support negotiations with partners and producers of vaccines, drugs, and medical supplies, who are capable of transferring their technologies to Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City to extend social distancing measures until mid Sept

Ho Chi Minh City is set to extend social distancing measures until September 15, the date set by the Government for the southern metropolis to bring its severe Covid-19 outbreaks under control, according to Phan Van Mai, Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee.

Mai said the city has paid close attention to pandemic prevention and control efforts, with the Government's Directive 16 being enforced in a thorough, synchronized, and effective manner. This shows public awareness regarding the necessity to protect themselves and the wider community has been enhanced and must be maintained.

Since August 5, the city has registered an average of 3,687 cases each day, of which 78.6% were in areas under lockdown, 2.3% were detected in quarantined areas, 17.7% were found through screening tests at hospitals. The city currently has 1,558 critical patients, along with 16 on ECMO support. As many as 10,421 asymptomatic cases are being treated at home. In addition, more than 12,000 patients have been treated for over seven days and are in the process of recovering.

Vietnam has to date documented 255,748 Covid-19 cases. Among patients under treatment, 511 are being cared for in ICU, and 20 are being treated with ECMO.

The sub-committee for treatment of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control Treatment Sub-committee on the same day announced 275 more Covid-19-related deaths, raising the fatalities to 5,088.

Vietnam has so far administered 13,256,472 doses of Covid-19 vaccines. A total of 1,191,855 people have received two shots.

Valerie Mai