In order to ensure the Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control works, the Ministry of Health proposed to halt unnecessary activities of crowd gatherings, festivals and religious activities in high-risk areas of the pandemic outbreak during the Lunar New Year Eve.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health (MoT) has just sent an official letter to the Government Office to report the contents on strengthening Covid-19 prevention and control measures during the Lunar New Year Eve 2022.

Recently, numerous localities have recorded a high surge of Covid-19 cases in the communities, especially in densely populated areas along with the high demand for travel and trading.

Based on the pandemic development, the localities have to evaluate and update the pandemic level on the local website portals and the Ministry of Health to promptly impose the measures of strengthening the pandemic prevention and control as regulated on the Resolution No.128/NQ-CP of the Government and the Decision No.4800 of the Ministry of Health.

According to the Ministry of Health, the whole country recorded around 15,000 new Covid-19 cases last week, including 9,000 to 10,000 ones in the communities.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Omicron variant had appeared and spread in four continents and at least 77 countries and territories. WHO considered the Omicron variant as a concern one as it increases the risk of reinfection, can evade immunity and spreads 3.2 times faster than the Delta variant.

However, there has been no evidence showing that the Omicron variant could reduce the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines as well as increase the severity and death rates.

Source: SGGP

Ministry submits Tet holiday schedule to Prime Minister

The Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has just proposed a nine-day Lunar New Year 2022 break following the consensus of 16 other ministries, agencies and organizations and submited the proposal to the PM for approval.