HCMC – The Ministry of Health today, October 4, reported 5,383 Covid-19 cases, making today the third consecutive day the country has had less than 6,000 new cases a day.
The new cases included one imported case and 5,382 domestic infections in 37 cities and provinces, up 15 cases over yesterday.
Specifically, HCMC again took the lead in the case number today, at 2,490, followed by Binh Duong with 1,210 cases and Dong Nai with 701 cases.
In addition, An Giang had 222 cases and Soc Trang confirmed 118 cases. Other localities reported less than 100 cases each.
Thus, HCMC’s Covid-19 tally in the ongoing fourth Covid-19 wave has reached 400,003, or roughly half of the country’s total. Today, 27,683 Covid-19 patients were released from hospitals, raising the country’s Covid-19 recoveries in the current outbreak to 716,301.
Meanwhile, 130 more Covid-19 deaths were confirmed today, including 93 in HCMC, 20 in Binh Duong, five each in Long An and Dong Nai, three in An Giang, and one each in Ca Mau, Vinh Long, Danang and Tien Giang.
The exodus of migrant workers continues
In related news, some Mekong Delta provinces, such as An Giang and Kien Giang, have decided to quarantine residents returning from HCMC and adjacent provinces at home if they have got two Covid-19 vaccine shots and test negative for Covid-19.
An Giang Chairman Nguyen Thanh Binh said some 30,000 people returned to the province over the past three days and 100 of them tested positive for Covid-19.
The province has converted schools into centralized quarantine centers but failed to meet the demand. The huge number of returnees has also put pressure on the province’s budget as the province must provide meals for these people.
The solution of quarantining returnees at their homes will help prevent cross infection as centralized quarantine centers have been overloaded.
Meanwhile, Kien Giang has detected 35 Covid-19 cases among nearly 20,000 people returning to the province over the past three days.
The province’s vice chairwoman Nguyen Thanh Nhan said if the returnees test negative for Covid-19, they will be instructed to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days.
Dong Thap Province has decided to conduct Covid-19 tests on and quarantine the returnees at no charge.
People who have yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19 will be put under centralized quarantine for 14 days, while the quarantine period for those having received one and two shots is three and seven days, respectively. After the concentrated quarantine period, they will monitor their health at home for another 14 days.
In another development, the central province of Phu Yen will apply anti-pandemic measures in line with the prime minister’s Directive 19, which is less stringent than Directives 15 and 16, from 0 a.m. on October 5 as the province has put the pandemic under control.
Since September 20, Phu Yen has recorded no locally-infected Covid-19 cases. The province has practiced social distancing under Directive 15 since September 6 after deploying anti-pandemic measures in accordance with Directive 16 from July 23.
