HCMC – The Ministry of Health this evening, August 5, confirmed three imported Covid-19 cases and 3,298 locally-infected cases in 32 localities and 393 Covid-19 deaths.
Among the domestic infections, 554 cases were found to be infectious while in the community.
HCMC made up nearly half of the new cases, at 1,537. Its neighboring provinces of Long An, Binh Duong and Dong Nai reported 526, 325 and 248 cases, respectively.
Moreover, Khanh Hoa had 96 new cases, Dong Thap recorded 82 cases, Binh Thuan detected 75 cases and Hanoi found 69 cases.
The Ministry of Health also reported 52 cases in Can Tho, 46 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, 38 in Phu Yen and 36 in Ben Tre. The remaining cases were confirmed in 20 other localities.
Thus, the country had 7,244 cases in total today, dropping 379 cases compared to the figure yesterday. The new cases were mostly detected in HCMC with 3,886, up 586 cases day-on-day, Binh Duong with 822 cases, down 1,321 cases, and Long An with 715 cases.
The number of cases detected in the community was 1,562, down 303 cases.
The new cases today sent the country’s Covid-19 caseload since April 27 to 181,102, including 109,916 cases in HCMC, 22,378 cases in Binh Duong and 6,042 cases in Dong Nai.
Today, 3,708 patients were announced to have recovered from Covid-19, raising the total recoveries to 58,040.
As for the 393 Covid-19 deaths recorded from August 1 to 5, 214 cases were reported in HCMC, 112 in Binh Duong, 27 in Tien Giang, nine in Long An, eight each in Dong Thap and Dong Nai, four in Ben Tre, three in Vinh Long, and one each in Soc Trang, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, An Giang, Hanoi, Danang and Can Tho.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has decided to pilot home quarantine for direct contacts of Covid-19 patients from 0 a.m. on August 10 to ease pressure on concentrated quarantine facilities and reduce cross infection, said provincial vice chairman Tran Van Tuan, deputy head of the provincial steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control.
The province will pilot the solution for children, those aged below 18 and over 70, pregnant women, disabled people, those having poor health, and cancer patients among others.
In addition, their houses must meet certain requirements. People taking care of quarantined people must not leave their houses and must comply with anti-pandemic regulations and undergo Covid-19 tests like quarantined people.
In related news, Khanh Hoa Vice Chairman Dinh Van Thieu today said that the province had ordered 700,000 doses of Nano Covax, a Covid-19 vaccine candidate of Vietnam, to jab its residents.
The province will use its budget to buy 500,000 doses and mobilize other resources for the remaining 200,000 doses.
On August 2, the provincial chairman wrote to the Ministry of Health, the Vietnam Military Medical University and Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC proposing the trial of the vaccine in the province.
On the same day, the province announced to impose social distancing under the prime minister’s Directive 16 from 0 a.m. on August 6 on the city, except for Truong Sa District. It expected to put the pandemic under control by August 15.
