according to a Ministry of Health's report on Covid-19 prevention and control presented at the national online meeting of the Government with provinces on August 11.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.

The fourth outbreak since April 27 has recorded 225,283 cases, including 224,198 locally-transmitted cases (99%). Up to 77,531 people have recovered from the disease (34%) while 4,110 Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded, said Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.

Two out of 62 provinces in the country - Quang Ninh and Bac Kan - have passed 14 days with no new cases. Twelve provinces have reported no secondary infections, including: Lao Cai, Ninh Binh, Kon Tum, Ha Giang, Son La, Lai Chau, Tuyen Quang, Quang Tri, Nam Dinh, Yen Bai, Thai Binh, Bac Giang. One province has not recorded any cases - Cao Bang.

According to the Minister of Health, the epidemic is still complicated and may last for a long time, especially in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern regions. Some provinces are at risk of having an outbreak again.

In other localities, the risk of an outbreak is very high because a large number of people returning from epidemic-hit areas may not have been thoroughly monitored and managed.

The epidemic situation in Ho Chi Minh City has shown positive signs as strict social distancing measures have been applied for a period of time.

"The epidemic will tend to decrease in the next few weeks if we continue to take drastic measures like now. Neighboring provinces that have similar epidemic models to Ho Chi Minh City in the early stages, especially Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An, face a very high risk of outbreaks. If drastic and thorough measures are not implemented, the epidemic situation will develop in a more complicated way in these provinces and will affect the initial anti-epidemic results achieved in HCM City," warned Minister Nguyen Thanh Long.

In Hanoi, strong distancing measures have been implemented drastically, quickly, promptly and thoroughly, helping the capital basically control the situation, but the risk is still high as many infection cases have been detected in the community, with unknown sources of infection.

As of August 9, the Ministry of Health had distributed 17,721,990 vaccine doses. A total of 10,893,685 vaccine doses had been administered by that day, with 8,842,919 people getting one dose and 1,025,383 people two doses.

Thu Hang

Government aims for HCM City to control COVID-19 outbreak by September 15

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has just signed Resolution 86 of the Government on the implementation of urgent measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic to implement Resolution 30 of the National Assembly.