A medical worker takes a sample for COVID-19 testing from a passenger arriving at HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport. — VNA/VNS Photo Đan Phương

HCM CITY — One more imported case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was discovered in HCM City on Saturday (January 8), taking the city’s total number to 12.

Nguyễn Thị Huỳnh Mai, chief of staff at the Department of Health, said the patient was isolated immediately.

On Saturday there were 451 COVID cases in all, 262 found thanks to screening at hospitals, 59 detected in the community, and 130 in quarantine areas or field hospitals.

Another 914 had come into close contact with patients.

Eighteen people died due to the disease on Saturday, including three aged under 50 years but all with underlying conditions.

More than 30,100 people are being treated at home, while 829 others are quarantined at the city’s isolation facilities and three at isolation and treatment areas at export processing zones and industrial parks.

Nearly 5,000 patients are being treated at hospitals, with 323 requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, 85 being children aged under 16 and 33 being pregnant women.

The department has launched a campaign to protect people at high risk of infection.

It has drawn up a list of nearly 640,000 people aged over 65 with underlying diseases. Of them, 25,642 have not been vaccinated against COVID and 5,437 people have tested positive.

It has managed to persuade 18,000 of the unvaccinated people to take the shots. — VNS