A screenshot of the fabricated COVID-19 test certificate circulating on the internet. — Photo from the health ministry

HCM CITY — HCM City’s health authorities on Monday rejected news circulating the internet about an Omicron variant case in the southern city.

Tăng Chí Thượng, Director of HCM City’s Department of Health, told the media that a photo of a positive COVID-19 PCR test certificate conducted by FV Hospital in HCM City, which declared the patient is infected with the Omicron variant, is a fabrication.

The photo even has a full name of a man born in 1996 and residing in Ward 5, District 5, HCM City, who had had a specimen taken for testing on December 26.

“The health department can confirm that HCM City does not currently have any cases related to the Omicron variant, and the reports from FV Hospital also showed that this is just false rumour,” Thượng said, adding that if any case of Omicron is detected, the department will notify the Ministry of Health.

FV Hospital said there is no patient with the name, date of birth and place of residence stated on the photo in its registry, and there is also at present no PCR testing kit that identifies Omicron.

Previously, to head off Omicron threat, the city’s health department has assigned HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases to cooperate with the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit to conduct genomic sequencing of COVID-19 samples from arrivals into Việt Nam, to screen for the variant of concerns.

Việt Nam so far has not yet detected any cases of the new variant. — VNS