HCMC – Even though the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet over, many Vietnamese think they are immune from the disease, thus resulting in a recent spike in new cases.
Health officials warned that this lax behavior could lead to a re-emergence of Covid in HCMC.
Since July, new Covid infections and deaths have risen, mainly among those who have yet to take a Covid vaccine shot or who have not been fully vaccinated.
The HCMC Department of Health said that the city recorded 1,114 new cases from August 19 to 25, up 258 cases over the previous week. Of them, 78 are in critical condition, 15 on ventilators, and one undergoing blood purification.
In August, Cho Ray Hospital received 41 cases of Covid. Of them, 60% were transferred from neighboring provinces, 21 were in critical condition, and each day, three to four cases were put on ventilators.
Ton That Quang Thang, a doctor at the hospital’s Tropical Diseases Department, said prior to the spike in August, the three-month period from May to July saw no new Covid cases.
At Children’s Hospital No. 2, Vo Thanh Luan, deputy chief of Covid-19 ICU, said the hospital received an average of 30 patients a month.
The director of the HCMC Department of Health, Tang Chi Thuong, said new cases had picked up, with an average of 160 new cases and 74 hospitalizations per day.
Patients on ventilators are from the most at-risk groups and not fully vaccinated.
