The Ministry of Health has asked provinces to calculate the number of children from 6 months old to under 5 years old to prepare a plan on COVID-19 vaccination for them when there are enough conditions and scientific basis.

The spike in new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, and the spread of BA.5 Omicron subvariant are posing the risk of another coronavirus wave, said a leader of the HCMC Health Department.

Vietnam has detected a number of new, highly-contagious Omicron sub-variants, including BA.2.74, said the General Department of Preventive Medicine on August 17.

The Kim Thanh II international border gate in the northern province of Lao Cai suspended import-export activities from today, July 4, after China discovered Vietnamese goods having the coronavirus.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) yesterday said that from June 29, it stops posting new daily Covid-19 infection. The daily announcement will have only the numbers of recovered cases, deaths, and vaccinated people.

The Ministry of Health has proposed considering COVID-19 a Group A infectious disease, not an endemic disease in its latest draft on COVID-19 prevention and control measures in the new situation.

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-lineage BA.5 has entered Vietnam and may overwhelm the old sub-lineage BA.2 which is dominant in the country, according to Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Health Ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine.

The Ministry of Health has issued its latest guidance on COVID-19 vaccinations, which asks all agencies to continue administering booster doses for those 18 and above, and complete second doses for those aged 5-12 within August.

People in HCMC are required to sign a pledge for declining to get Covid vaccine booster shots and must bear responsibility if they spread the disease, said the HCMC government.

The National Assembly on Tuesday voted on a resolution to formulate a team responsible for inspecting mobilization, management and use of resources for COVID-19 fight in the 2020-2022 period.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has proposed the Government introduce an all-new V2K message for COVID-19 prevention and control to replace the 5K guidance, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong has announced.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed to lift health insurance or travel insurance with coverage of at least US$10,000 for Covid-19 treatment for foreign arrivals entering Vietnam.

Vietnam and the Philippines showed their best performances in the COVID-19 Recovery Index for May announced by Nikkei Asia on June 3 as both managed to ease restrictions while keeping infections low.

Ho Chi Minh City is expected to start offering fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines to residents next week, according to Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy director of the Municipal Department of Health.

As the international flight market needs more time to recover from the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Civil Aviation Administration of Việt Nam (CAAV) has called for more Government support for airlines operating in the country.

Vietnam has moved up 30 notches to rank 62nd in the latest edition of Nikkei’s COVID-19 Recovery Index thanks to the country’s high vaccination rate.

The vaccination of children aged between five and under 12 years old have been carried out safely in many localities over the past few days and no incidents have been recorded so far.

The health ministry has asked localities to prepare to carry out the inoculation of children aged 5-11 years old against COVID-19 as soon as the vaccines are distributed, likely to be in early April.

Vietnam has spent a total of VND19,900 billion (roughly US$865 million), importing COVID-19 test kits since the pandemic broke out in 2020, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

The Government will study how to remove Covid-19 from the list of class A infectious diseases, which are extremely dangerous, according to the anti-pandemic program in 2022-2023.