HCM City rehearses to respond to potential COVID-19 outbreak during Tet

Through the rehearsal, during the Tet holiday from January 20 to January 26, the HCM City Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (HCDC) in co-ordination with the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), identified that there is a new sub-variant of the Omicron strain in the southern city.

During the period, there is a sharp rise recorded in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases at the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and other general hospitals, with many cases showing severe symptoms.

As part of efforts to deal with the situation, relevant agencies in Ho Chi Minh City will reactivate the field hospital No 13 in order to treat severe COVID-19 cases.

The field hospital No. 13 has a capacity of up to 100 beds for active resuscitation within a 24-hour period to receive severe cases and can proactively adjust the size of the hospital depending on the pandemic developments, while also making thorough preparations to minimise the number of deaths caused by the spread of the virus.

Tang Chi Thuong, director of the municipal Department of Health, revealed that the unit has prepared sufficient drugs and medical equipment for the rehearsal, including 100 resuscitation beds, 100 ventilators, 100 monitors, and two portable X-ray machines.

Simultaneously, a total of 54 doctors and 108 nurses are being mobilised to take care of 100 seriously ill patients.

People are therefore advised to abide by COVID-19 preventive measures recommended by the Ministry of Health and receive sufficient jabs and booster shots in order to protect themselves from the pandemic moving forward amid the emergence of new sub-variants of COVID-19.

During Tet, the municipal Department of Health plans to organise 45 vaccination points to serve residents of the southern city.