Other people given priority in the fifth round include preferential social policy and welfare beneficiaries, the poor, the vulnerable, and medical staff and frontline workers.

The fifth round will be carried out at 20 hospitals and more than 600 vaccination sites at communes and wards. Between 120 and 200 people will be vaccinated per day per vaccination site. 

People aged 65 and older and people of any age with underlying diseases such as chronic kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and people with obesity, will be vaccinated at hospitals to ensure safety and better handle any adverse reactions after injection. Other people will be vaccinated at public injection sites.

Everyone must have a rapid COVID-19 test before they get the jab. Only those with a negative result test will be vaccinated.

More than 930,000 doses, including 235,000 doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna and nearly 55,000 doses of Pfizer, will be given within a two to three week period.

At each vaccination site, one doctor will screen people before the vaccination, one nurse will perform the injection, one doctor and 11 nurses will monitor post-injection reactions, and one staff will take care of administrative matters.

All medical staff must be trained in vaccination safety and must be fully equipped with protective equipment such as protective clothes, N95 masks and face shields. 

Each injection team must be present at the injection site at the prescribed time (7:30am and 1pm). People are asked to comply with 5K prevention measures at vaccination sites.

A COVID-19 field hospital at Thuận Kiều Plaza in District 5 has been completed and is ready to treat asymptomatic or mild COVID patients. Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

Nguyễn Thị Như Ý, chief officer at the Phú Nhuận District People’s Committee, said that people in the district must register online first and the district will then select and filter the list of people for vaccinations.

A certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 must be issued at the sites after vaccination. 

The city has so far received two million doses of vaccines from the Ministry of Health. The ministry plans to supply three million more doses to the city in late August and early September, bringing the total number of doses sent to the city to five million.

1,000 COVID patients discharged daily

Nguyễn Hữu Hưng, deputy director of the Department of Health, said that 6,422 COVID patients had been discharged from hospitals in HCM City as of Thursday.

The number will increase in coming days with an average of about 1,000 people a day.

The city has 35 hospitals for COVID treatment with a total number of 59,000 beds, which are now treating more than 35,000 patients.

“Despite the unpredictable situation in the city, the health sector still ensures treatment,” said Dr Hưng.

The city has recorded 332 COVID-related deaths as of Thursday, most of whom were people with underlying medical conditions, according to the Health Department.

Field hospital ready for patients

A COVID-19 field hospital at Thuận Kiều Plaza in District 5 has been completed and is ready to treat asymptomatic or mild COVID patients. Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

HCM City’s fifth COVID-19 field hospital at Thuận Kiều Plaza, now known as the Garden Mall, in District 5, has been completed and is ready to treat asymptomatic or mild COVID patients, according to city authorities.

The 1,000-bed field hospital consists of three floors with a total area of ​​more than 30,000 square metres.

The field hospital includes a reception area for screening and classifying COVID patients, an imaging diagnosis area, a testing area, a treatment area for asymptomatic and mild cases, an ICU (intensive care unit) area, a food supply area, an area for receiving essential goods from the patients’ relatives, and a waste treatment area.

The hospital has a mobile disinfection booth located at the reception area where patients will be tested, screened and classified. 

On July 8, nearly 700 workers and engineers were mobilised to complete the renovation of part of the Thuận Kiều Plaza to turn it into the COVID-19 field hospital No 5. 

Thuận Kiều Plaza was built in 1994 with a floor area of 100,000 square metres. It has hundreds of apartments and functional rooms. However, the famous building complex has been left abandoned for 27 years due to a rumor that it was a haunted building.

HCM City is the country’s COVID-19 epicentre with nearly 44,000 cases recorded since the end of April. — VNS