HCMC – The Ministry of Health this evening, August 11, reported 3,964 new Covid-19 cases, with four imported and 3,960 locally-infected cases in 26 provinces and cities, and 342 Covid-19 fatalities.
Of the new domestic infections, HCMC took the lead in the case number, at 1,288, followed by Binh Duong with 961, Dong Nai with 551, Long An with 448, Dong Thap with 176 and Can Tho with 103, while 20 other localities accounted for the rest.
Vietnam as such reported 8,766 cases in total today, rising by 376 cases against yesterday. HCMC had 3,416 infections today, down 540 cases day-on-day, raising the city’s count in the latest coronavirus wave to 133,167, while Binh Duong saw the day’s caseload reach 1,897.
As of this evening, Vietnam had 236,901 Covid-19 cases, including 2,381 imported cases and 234,520 domestic ones, with 232,950 infections detected in the current fourth wave of the pandemic, which began in late April.
Today, 4,806 patients were announced to have recovered from the disease, raising the total recoveries to 85,154.
Meanwhile, the treatment subcommittee under the national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control reported 342 Covid-19 deaths in nine localities. Of the total, 261 fatalities were recorded in HCMC, 24 in Can Tho, 22 in Binh Duong, 11 in Dong Nai, 10 in Dong Thap and Long An each, two in Tien Giang and one in Danang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau each.
In related news, Tay Ninh Province will face a severe shortage of medical workers if the province’s Covid-19 count hit 5,000 cases.
Speaking at an anti-pandemic meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on August 10, Tay Ninh Chairman Nguyen Thanh Ngoc said that in order to treat 5,000 Covid-19 patients in the worst-case scenario, the province needed some 1,000 more medical workers.
Besides, the province also needs 350 ICU ventilators, 250 invasive and non-invasive ventilators, 140 dialysis machines, 17 ECMO machines and 83 high flow nasal cannulas.
The biggest difficulty facing the province is that the number of Covid-19 infections is surging, while its field hospitals for Covid-19 treatment are overloaded, Ngoc said.
Tay Ninh Province reported 263 infections today, taking its caseload to 3,077 in the ongoing fourth coronavirus wave. The province, which is quarantining over 14,000 people, has 14 Covid-19 treatment facilities with some 3,440 beds and 900 medical workers.
In another development, the Mekong Delta’s largest intensive care center, which is located in Can Tho City, will be put into operation in the next three days, said Pham Thanh Phong, deputy director of the Can Tho Central General Hospital.
The center will receive severely- and critically-ill Covid-19 patients transferred from other localities in the delta. This is one of the 12 national intensive care centers established by the Ministry of Health.
Elsewhere, Hanoi City has released a plan to conduct Covid-19 testing on a large scale. From August 9 to 17, the city will take some 1.3 million samples for RT-PCR tests to quickly detect Covid-19 cases and prevent the spread of the virus.
