HCMC – The Ministry of Health has not yet recognized Covid-19 as an endemic disease as new cases and deaths remain high worldwide.
In its latest draft Covid prevention and control measures in a new normal, the ministry cited WHO as saying that Covid remains a global health emergency and that more variants of the coronavirus could emerge. Therefore, Covid response measures should stay in place.
In Vietnam, the Covid death rate dropped from 1.03% in January to 0.06% in May this year.
According to the Health Ministry, a disease outbreak is endemic when it is always present in a particular population or region, and that the incidence of the disease is stable and predictable.
The ministry added that most countries worldwide are recording a varying number of new cases and deaths linked to the virus. New infections or deaths trending up or down are highly volatile when a new variant of the virus appears.
The Health Ministry concluded that it would take time to monitor the developments of the disease before declaring that Covid had settled down and become endemic.
The first case of the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, which spreads fast among all populations, including those who have been vaccinated and boosted, has been detected in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Health.
