Dr. Tran Dac Phu - Advisor for the Vietnam Center for Emergency Response to Public Health Events – told VietNamNet that Vietnam should not announce the end of the pandemic because the World Health Organization (WHO) still considers Covid-19 an urgent public health event. 

He said the pandemic is still complicated and unpredictable, and mutations may appear unpredictably. If new dangerous strains of nCoV appear, it is likely to reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine or immunity, causing an increase in severe cases or deaths. At this time, there may be an outbreak, exceeding the capacity of the health system. 

Vietnam has seen a sharp decrease in the number of new cases and severe cases thanks to the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccine. 

But after 4-6 months after injection, the vaccine's effectiveness will weaken and Covid-19 will still be a concern.

Prof. Phan Trong Lan, director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), shared the same opinion, saying that the pandemic remains complicated in many countries and is even increasing again in some places globally. 

The virus is constantly changing and recording fresh variants, which could cause an outbreak on a large scale beyond the health system’s capacity.

Lan said there needs to be a plan in place for vaccines to be used in such an emergency. In addition, attention needs to be given to public participation in the fight against the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health should maintain the status of COVID-19 as a pandemic to ensure that the entire political system becomes involved in anti-pandemic work and to arrange funding for anti-pandemic activities.

“Vietnam needs to assess the risk of the epidemic situation to makes suitable response," Dr. Tran Dac Phu said. When the risk is not properly assessed, responses will fail to control the epidemic. On the contrary, over-assessment of risks leads to over-response, causing an impact on the economy and social security.

Dr. Phu said in this period, Vietnam needs to move from prohibiting to controlling risks, loosening but preparing prevention, and in particular, focusing on protecting high-risk groups (the elderly, those with underlying diseases).

Dr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Association for Infection Control, told VietNamNet that although the end of the Covid-19 pandemic has not been announced, it is still necessary to have epidemic prevention and control measures.

“We need to adapt to fit the current situation. Applying preventive measures against respiratory diseases cannot be ignored. Infected people still have to be treated, need to be isolated, wear masks, and not go to public places. We still have to focus on protecting high-risk people," Hung said.

According to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control, Omicron remains the main variant worldwide, accounting for 99.7% of the reported sequences. The Omicron BA.5 sub-variant and sub-lineages continue to dominate sequenced samples. In Vietnam, the number of new cases has been decreasing. 

Earlier, the Ministry of Health decided to stop requiring arrivals to make health declarations, and also officially updated the 5K message to 2K+, face masks + disinfection and plus - as part of COVID-19 containment efforts. 

Vietnam has also lifted nearly all COVID-19 restrictions, including reinstating pre-pandemic foreign entry policies.

Ngoc Trang