COVID-19: An additional 19 community cases detected on Feb. 3 afternoon

Fourteen cases were detected in Hai Duong, the country’s biggest coronavirus hotspot. Nine of them are workers living in Chi Linh City where the virus recurred a week ago.

Earlier, the Hai Duong Central of Diseases Control confirmed 16 more COVID-19 cases in the province. 

Elsewhere. Quang Ninh, another coronavirus hotspot registered four cases, while Gia Lai province in the Central Highlands had one case.

The remaining one case is a Vietnamese citizens returning from Japan. The 25-year-old man tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus on February 2 while being quarantined, and was then transferred to a hospital in Quang Nam province in central Vietnam for treatment.

So far the SARS-CoV-2 virus has attacked 10 cities and provinces across the country since it recurred in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh a week ago.

More than 300 community cases have been since confirmed, mostly in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh. Ha Noi capital has also recorded more than 20 cases that are closely linked to the Hai Duong and Quang Ninh hotspots.

According to Hanoi mayor Chu Ngoc Anh, with intensified prevention efforts, the capital is on the right track to bring the fresh outbreak under control.    

The capital city is mobilizing capital sources to import COVID-19 vaccines for local demand, with priority to be given to high-risk people.

Hai Phong city earlier announced its plan to purchase vaccines for more than 2 million local people.  

Vietnam aims to vaccinate all people against COVID-19. At a January 31 Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Ministry of Health and the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control to soon submit an vaccine import plan in the first quarter of 2021.

The Ministry of Health recently licensed AstraZeneca to supply its COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam. Approximately 30 million doses are due to arrive in Vietnam in the first half of 2021.