The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases is treating 30 seriously ill COVID-19 patients. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health has warned of an increase in the number of new COVID-19 infections as well as critical cases.

Over the past week, Việt Nam has recorded an average of 2,000 new COVID-19 patients each day.

More than 100 seriously ill COVID-19 patients are being treated at hospitals.

The increase would cause overload for the health system, particularly in the context of the outbreak of other diseases such as dengue fever, influenza A and hand-foot- and mouth-disease, according to the ministry.

Also, there is a high risk for newly emerging infectious diseases such as monkeypox and chronic liver disease to enter Việt Nam.

As the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron have appeared in many southern localities while the new academic year will start soon, the ministry urged localities to continue to speed up vaccination, particularly booster doses for the adult population and the second dose for children between five and under 12 years old.

The ministry said it will continue closely watching the development of the COVID-19 pandemic and regularly evaluate and analyse the situation in order to build plans and scenarios to respond to any outbreak in a timely manner.

The national COVID-19 caseload in Việt Nam now stands at more than 11.3 million, according to the Ministry of Health.

The total number of recoveries rose to over 10 million. There are 106 patients in serious conditions needing breathing support.

The country has so far administered more than 251 million doses of vaccines.

HCM City ready to reactivate COVID-19 treatment hospitals

The Department of Health of HCM City has recently requested its medical facilities to get plans readied for the acceptance and treatment of COVID-19 patients in the context of increases in the number of new cases.

The department assigned the Hospital for Tropical Diseases to be responsible for preparing human resources to reactivate the COVID-19 treatment hospital for severe cases when required.

In addition, it requested all hospitals, health centres, and medical facilities in the city to actively review their resources to be ready to respond when the COVID-19 pandemic worsens.

The city's Centre for Disease Control was assigned to strengthen case surveillance through the Infectious Disease Surveillance System connected to the COVID-19 Digital Management Platform, with the focus on fluctuations in the number of new cases, and the status of vaccination for vulnerable people.

The Health Department also stressed the need to step up communication work to raise awareness about the importance of vaccinations and continue giving help to and managing COVID-19 patients at home through this platform. — VNS