HCMC – The Ministry of Health confirmed 3,168 new Covid cases this evening, October 18, including nine imported cases and 3,159 domestic cases in 45 provinces and cities nationwide.
The number of new domestic infections declined by 16 cases day-on-day. HCMC reported 968 cases, followed by Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Soc Trang provinces with 439, 393, and 174 cases, respectively. The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang saw the biggest increase by 110 cases, while the southwestern province of Tay Ninh recorded the steepest fall by 138 cases.
Besides, more than 1,100 coronavirus patients were declared free of Covid while 75 others died of the disease in the day, sending the country’s total recoveries and fatalities to over 790,000 cases and over 21,200 cases, respectively.
In related news, Viet Duc University Hospital resumed its normal operations today, after nearly 20 days being locked down due to Covid infections detected at the hospital. The hospital has continued to adopt anti-Covid measures and ensure safe healthcare check-ups and treatment, disinfected areas in the hospital, and mapped out a plan to admit patients.
In another development, since October 13, the northern province of Phu Tho has reported 123 fresh Covid cases whose source of transmission remains unknown. Of the new cases, Viet Tri City recorded 107 cases, while Lam Thao and Phu Ninh districts had eight cases each.
Speaking at a working session with Viet Tri City, provincial chairman Bui Van Quang asked the city’s authorities to speed up tracing and testing efforts to quickly put the outbreak under control.
Besides, the city has to facilitate setting up a quarantine center with 150 beds. The chairman also asked the city’s anti-Covid authority to inspect the cause of the Covid transmission at the Chu Hoa primary and secondary schools and strictly handle violators of anti-Covid regulations.
The chairman ordered the city’s education authority to review and ramp up its anti-Covid efforts to ensure a safe learning environment. The province also allowed all students in Viet Tri to stay at home starting today to track down cases linked to the Covid patients.
In Dong Nai Province, the Chang Shin Vietnam Company, a major labor-intensive company in s Vinh Cuu District, has discovered 38 employees tested positive for Covid and 44 others had close contact with these cases after resuming operations, but did not report the issue to the local authorities, said Nguyen Van Thuoc, Secretary of the district’s Party Committee, at a Covid-related meeting held today.
Thuoc added that the company detected these infections last weekend. Instead of reporting these cases to the authorities, it took the infected cases to a quarantine facility while allowing the direct contacts to self-quarantine at home.
Provincial chairman Cao Tien Dung said that companies when detecting Covid cases at their facilities after recovering production must follow Covid safety protocols. Therefore, the Chang Shin company’s way to cope with the Covid cases was inappropriate and would therefore face sanctions, he said.
