HCMC – The HCMC Department of Health has denied a claim on social media that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was first detected in the city on December 26.
The claim that went viral on social media stated that the FV Hospital had found a man infected with the fast-spreading Omicron through a PCR test. The man is from Ward 5, District 5, HCMC, according to a copy of what was claimed to be a Covid-19 PCR test certificate.
The HCMC Department of Health has received a report from the FV Hospital and concluded that this was fake news. The local media quoted the hospital’s head of marketing and business development as saying that the said positive Covid-19 PCR test certificate was forged.
FV Hospital had never issued a certificate for a client who tested positive for Covid at the hospital, said the hospital executive.
According to Dr Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Health, the Omicron variant can only be determined through genetic sequencing, not a PCR test.
To detect this variant of the coronavirus, the city has assigned the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases to collaborate with the clinical research unit of Oxford University to conduct genetic sequencing on all imported Covid cases in the country.
