HCMC – Within 24 hours from 6 a.m. on June 24, HCMC detected a record 667 suspected Covid-19 cases, said director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh.
At a meeting of the municipal steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control today, Binh said that 99 cases were found in areas under lockdown and 538 cases in quarantine facilities, the local media reported.
In addition, 14 were detected after being tested when they visited hospitals—two each at the University Medical Center, Nguyen Tri Phuong and Thong Nhat, and one each at Pham Ngoc Thach, District 12, Le Van Thinh, Quoc Anh, Binh Tan District and the HCMC Oncology and Van Hanh hospitals and the Thu Duc City Medical Center.
The other cases included a nurse at the Binh Thanh District Medical Center, a case who was detected in an expanded testing campaign, two under monitoring after completing their quarantine periods, two imported cases and 10 others whose infection sources are being tracked down.
At present, 31 Covid-19 patients are in critical condition—12 at the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases, three at the Cho Ray Hospital, seven at the Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital, four at the Cu Chi Covid-19 Treatment Hospital and five at the Trung Vuong Covid-19 Treatment Hospital.
According to Binh, chains of community infection in the city were mainly caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
He noted that the pandemic had spread in the community, industrial parks, hospitals and clinics. Due to the sharp increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases, the city has locked down high-risk areas, such as quarters 2, 3 and 4 in Binh Tan District’s An Lac Ward and some parts in Hoc Mon District. The entire city has also practiced social distancing under Directive 10 since June 20.
At the meeting, Director of the HCMC Center for Disease Control Nguyen Tri Dung said the number of symptomatic Covid-19 patients was lower than that at the beginning of the fourth wave.
Specifically, 68% of the patients have showed no symptoms and only 1.3% of the patients developed severe symptoms. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the wave, 68% of the patients showed symptoms.
In the coming periods, the city needs to protect people with a high risk of infection and suffering from underlying illnesses by providing them with vaccines.
However, at present, the healthcare sector still needs to boost the fight against the pandemic.
This is the largest Covid-19 wave in the city with 2,343 cases confirmed by the Ministry of Health from April 27 to the afternoon of June 25, excluding other suspected cases.
Until June 23, the city had taken samples from more than one million people and launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign. After six days, the municipal Department of Health reported that local residents have been given more than 400,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses.
