Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam, head of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control speaks at the meeting
Speaking at the beginning of the NA's 43rd session which convened in Hanoi on March 23, Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam who is head of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, noted that anti-virus efforts in Vietnam had entered a second stage when the epicentre moved to some European countries.
"Although we already had experience after successfully curbing the epidemic for nearly a month after it broke out from China, predictions from our experts showed that we may still have thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths in the coming time," the official said. "The number of Covid-19 patients in Vietnam may rise up to 4,000 with up to 160 deaths."
Dam pointed out that the majority of new patients were people coming from Europe.
"As we are receiving thousands of people returning from virus-hit areas, we will have to well prepare for the situation," he stressed. "It is expected that the number of new patients from this group will continue to rise in the coming days. But they are in quarantine areas so we don't need to worry much about transmission. Quarantine has been set mandatory for all incoming people since March 20 so the threat of virus transmission can be reduced. It would be much more dangerous when the outbreak occurs outside the quarantine areas."
According to the official, Covid-19 patients and suspected cases in Vietnam are now quarantined in four places including military areas, hospitals, hotels, and at home. Military areas nation-wide can host 60,000 people.
"Although we have advised overseas Vietnamese people not to return to the country, many may still come back if we control the epidemic well," he said. "They may carry the virus home. We need to continue intensifying prevention work at quarantine areas to avoid overloading local hospitals."
Deputy PM Dam stressed that so far the epidemic is still under control in Vietnam but the coming time may be challenging.
"Now we will still go on with the strategy we did in the first stage of virus combating," he confirmed. "We will prepare for the worst situation so that it won't occur."
The Ministry of Health has built five scenarios for fighting the Covid-19 epidemic with the highest level dealing with 30,000 patients.
