Daily COVID-19 count hits 264, HCM City gears up for vaccine rollout
VOV.VN - A total of 264 new cases of COVID-19, including 259 local transmissions, and five imported ones were detected on June 18 by the Ministry of Health, with Ho Chi Minh City suffering the highest number of infections at 149.
The majority of new cases in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh are closely associated with outbreaks in the provinces' industrial parks and other quarantine and locked down areas.
Most cases found in Ho Chi Minh City, involve individuals who came into close contact with previously confirmed patients, are related to the Christian mission cluster, tied to the Trung Son Food Joint Stock Company located in Tan Tao Industrial Park, and are under epidemiological investigation.
The new cases found in other localities are either F1 contacts or associated with confirmed outbreaks.
Following the latest cases, the nation has now confirmed 10,742 local infections, along with 1,672 imported ones.
As many as 9,172 locally-transmitted cases have been detected in the latest COVID-19 wave that first hit the nation over one month ago.
The same day saw a further 80 patients declared free from the virus, thereby boosting the total number of recoveries to 4,733.
The death toll rose to 62 after the confirmation of another fatality relating to COVID-19 on the same day.
Most notably, Ho Chi Minh City has seen a sharp increase in fresh infections in recent times.
As part of efforts to slow the spread of the virus through a vaccination campaign against COVID-19, the municipal health sector is striving to speed up preparations for the country’s largest-ever vaccination campaign, with nearly 1,000 inoculation sites set to be based throughout the southern city.
This campaign is due to run for up to seven days and will see approximately 200,000 people vaccinated each day, starting from June 18.
Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy director of the municipal Department of Health, said that the southern city has also outlined many vaccination scenarios based on vaccine volumes allocated from 500,000 to 10 million doses.
For the vaccination scheme of more than 800,000 doses that has just been allocated in the fourth drive, in addition to priority groups according to Resolution 21, the southern city plans to vaccinate roughly one million people. This includes essential service providers, teachers, people working in administrative agencies and units, people over 65 years old, along with workers in industrial parks and export processing zones.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son, of the 966,320 doses of COVID-19 vaccine provided by Japan, a total of 836,000 have been prioritised for Ho Chi Minh City in an effort to help the city swiftly ensure safety for the local community and production activities.
