Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam (middle) speaks with the Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, Nguyễn Văn Nên (right), and Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Trường Sơn at a COVID prevention meeting on Sunday

HCM CITY — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam has called on people, especially those in HCM City, who have recovered from COVID-19 to volunteer to work on the frontlines with medical workers.

Đam, also head of the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 prevention and control, said they could register with community COVID teams in 312 communes, wards and townships.

The city is treating 34,605 ​​patients as of Sunday, including 2,131 children under 16, 2,442 critically ill patients on ventilators and 19 others requiring ECMO intervention, he said.

According to a recent report by the HCM City human resource co-ordination team for pandemic prevention and control, there is a shortage of some 12,000 medical workers.

As of January 1 more than 87,800 patients were treated and discharged from hospitals in the city, and they should be used to reduce the pressure on medical staff, Đam said.

According to Dr Nguyễn Trung Cấp, deputy director of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, admitted there are few studies yet on re-infection.

According to a study of more than 20,000 healthcare workers in the UK, titled SARS-CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation, most people who recover from COVID are likely to be immune for several months afterwards.

It concluded that immune responses from past infections reduce the risk of catching the virus again by 83 per cent for at least five months.

Another study by the US’ University of Missouri School of Medicine found that COVID reinfection is 0.7 per cent and in an average time of 116 days. 

In fact, many medical workers were infected with SARS-CoV-2. After being given the all-clear, they resumed working at COVID-19 treatment areas and volunteered to do work that posed high risk of infection.

The reinfection rate is low, but it is still possible, and recovered patients are also recommended to take preventive measures and get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Fully vaccinated people who also face fewer risks of infection should also participate in frontline work to help reduce the burden on medical workers, he said. — VNS