20 day luteal phase when to test

HCMC equipped with automated Covid-19 testing system

February 17, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

The Cobas 4800 system utilizes real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology for Covid-19 testing, capable of processing 96 samples at once and returning results within two hours, the HCDC said. While the center already has five RT-PCR machines, worth VND2.5 billion each, they involve more manual procedures and so require more time and labor force, the center added.

The system’s sponsor was not identified.

Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy director of the HCDC, said automating Covid-19 testing would save time by up to 40 percent and also reduce exposure risks for medical workers. The automated systems would also help boost HCMC’s testing capacity, he added. The city is currently capable of testing up to 150,000 samples a day, according to the HCMC Department of Health.

Earlier this month, the southern metropolis became a location of Covid-19 concern after its Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnam’s largest, recorded several community transmissions. From Jan. 30 to Feb. 16, the city has performed Covid-19 tests on around 40,000 samples, including 5,400 from Tan Son Nhat ground staff and their family members.

The HCMC health department on Tuesday requested people entering the city from other localities within the last 14 days to medically declare themselves to authorities. Meanwhile, the HCDC said those entering HCMC from areas experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks or areas being imposing social distancing must enter centralized quarantine for 14 days and be tested four times. The HCDC also began randomly testing those entering the city via public transport.

The city is receiving a large number of people coming back to work after the seven-day Tet break.

Since late last month, HCMC has recorded 36 local Covid-19 cases out of the country’s 719 amid a new Covid-19 wave affecting 13 cities and provinces. The national tally now stands at 2,311, including 699 active cases.

Vietnam to test highest dose of Covid-19 vaccine

January 12, 2021 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Nanocovax vaccine produced by NANOGEN Company is the first made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine which is undergoing clinical trial in humans.

The last group of 20 volunteers participating in the human trial of the made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine will be injected with the highest dosage in the next few days.

According to the Military Medical Academy, three volunteers has been injected with a 75 mcg (the highest) dose of NANOGEN Company’s Nanocovax vaccine on January 12. In the next 72 hours, the remaining 17 people will receive the same dose.

Nanocovax vaccine produced by NANOGEN Company is the first made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine which is undergoing clinical trial in humans.

Previously, the Military Medical Academy injected doses of 25 and 50 mcg of the Nanocovax vaccine to 40 volunteers belonging to the first two groups. So far, all of them have been in stable condition, about 60% of them had a mild fever and felt pain on injection.

Testing made-in- Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine for the first time on December 17, 2020. Photo: Dinh Anh

Currently, the Academy of Military Medicine is recruiting between 400 and 600 volunteers to conduct phase 2 of the human trials and accelerate the trial of the Covid-19 vaccine.

On December 17, 2020, the Military Medical Academy began to conduct the first phase of clinical trial vaccination of Nanocovax on human. All volunteers in the first phase will be given two shots of Covid-19 vaccine, the interval between two shots is 28 days.

To ensure the safety of the volunteers, during the recruitment period of 60 participants, the safety assessment was carried out as the dosage was increased. All volunteers are covered by health insurance.

The human trial of Nanocovax would comprise three phases.

In the first phase, volunteers aged 18 to 50 are randomly divided into three groups to receive doses of 25 mcg, 50 mcg, and 75 mcg of the vaccine or a placebo. Vaccination consists of a two-dose schedule with an interval of 28 days.

The second phase is scheduled to start within February next year and last until August, with 400-600 volunteers aged 12-75 vaccinated, while the third phase is expected to see participation of up to 30,000 volunteers.

“Success of the trial would boost the pride of the health sector and serve as an effective tool against Covid-19,” Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Duc Dam said while he visited the first three volunteers on December 20, 2020.

Three-phase human trials of the first made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine is scheduled to complete in February 2022.

Vietnam currently has four Covid-19 vaccines under development, the other three by the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), Vaccine and Biological Production Company No.1 (Vabiotech), and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac).

The vaccine candidates developed by IVAC and Vabiotech are expected to be tested on humans in the first quarter of 2021. Vietnam also has plans to import Covid-19 vaccines.

Globally, 11 vaccines have entered phase three of clinical trials to date.

Thanks to strict quarantine and tracking measures, Vietnam has managed to contain its Covid-19 outbreaks with total infections at 1,515 and 35 deaths.

Hanoi runs RT-PCR test on nearly 100,000 returnees from Danang

August 7, 2020 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – The RT-PCR test is totally reliable while the accuracy of Covid-19 quick test is only from 60% to 75%.

Hanoi will conduct Covid-19 testing with the RT-PCR method from today [August 7] on all people returning from Danang, the largest pandemic epicenter in Vietnam now, since July to find out and stamp out the novel coronavirus in the city.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

Nearly 100,000 people have returned to Hanoi from resort city Danang since the start of July, taking advantage of tour packages and promos after the country lifted social distancing measures in April.

At a city meeting on August 6, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung explained that only 80,000 rapid test kits are available, thus around 20,000 people would remain untested.

In addition, the accuracy of Covid-19 quick test is only from 60% to 75% while the RT-PCR test is 100% accurate. For instance, Patient No.714, a 42-year-old male, was negative for coronavirus after taking a rapid test. However, his confirmatory PCR test turned to be positive, Mr. Chung said.

In the first phase, the RT-PCR testing will be run on 60,000-65,000 people who returned between July 15 and 29. With the current capacity of sampling and testing, it will take nine days to collect samples and 12 days to conduct PRC testing for all of them.

Mr. Chung asked commune health stations and the Hanoi CDC to take samples from August 7 to conducting PCR testing on returnees from Danang residing in nine inner-city districts of Nam Tu Liem, Bac Tu Liem, Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan, Tay Ho, Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Hai Ba Trung, and Dong Da.

“If there are no more Covid-19 cases detected from now until August 12, the city will be relatively safe. If there is any, the situation would be very unpredictable,” said the Hanoi mayor.

Agreeing with PCR testing for all returnees from Covid-19-hit regions, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue said that private hospitals can be mobilized to speed up the task if necessary. He suggested priority be given to testing for F1 cases (who made close contact with infected people) and symptomatic people.

Since late July, when the first local infection was found in Danang after over three months, the city has become the epicenter with 214 cases, Hanoi has recorded four Covid-19 cases so far.

The tally of Covid-19 infections nationwide has reached 750, of which 392 have recovered, ten have died, and 348 are under treatment.

Covid-19 vaccine human testing second phase started

February 26, 2021 by dtinews.vn

The Medical Military Academy started the second testing of a Covid-19 vaccine on humans today, February 26.

Volunteers gathered at the Medical Military Academy from 7:15 this morning for the testing of the Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC’s Nanocovax vaccine. They were also provided with another health screening check before the tests.

Around 560 volunteers have been selected for the second testing, divided into groups to be injected with doses of 25mcg, 50mcg, and 75mcg. One group received a placebo to help compare with those who are provided with the vaccine. This is intended to assess the efficiency of the vaccine, said Chu Van Men, Director of the Military Medical University’s Centre for Clinical Trials and Bioequivalence.

A volunteer of the second testing of the vaccine

“However, all volunteers won’t know whether they’re provided with the vaccine or the placebo, which is aimed to ensure the scientific research,” Men added.

This morning, the same testing was carried out in parallel at both the Medical Military Academy in Hanoi and at a medical centre in Ben Luc District, the southern province of Long An.

Unlike the first trial of the vaccine, this time, after the injection, volunteers only stayed at the institute or the medical centre in Long An for 60 minutes. They could then return home and were medically monitored by local health authorities.

Nguyen Ngo Quang, deputy director of the Health Ministry’s Department of Science, Technology and Training, the result of the second testing is expected to be announced in 2-2.5 months to come.

Hanoi’s first metro line to conduct test run by end-2020

November 9, 2020 by vov.vn

The Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB) under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said that 110 experts of China Railway Sixth Group – the EPC contractor – and eight of the French consultancy Apave-Certifier-Tricc (ACT) consortium will carry out the safety evaluation and remaining tasks in November.

Currently, some 90 experts and personnel of the general contractor and one French expert have arrived in Hanoi for the trial operation of Cat Linh – Ha Dong line. Among them, 30 are under COVID-19 quarantine.

According to the MRB, the purpose of commissioning the line is to test and evaluate its safety and the skills of the operating personnel in accordance with the actual run chart.

The MRB added that the overall acceptance of the project will include both the test for pre-acceptance of the project and the qualifications of the operating staff. The general contractor will have to repair any items that fail to meet the requirements.

Especially, the MRB stressed that the trial operation and acceptance phase of the project is not the last one before putting the project into commercial operation. The Cat Linh – Ha Dong line will still have to undergo a host of evaluation tests.

Accordingly, the consultants will evaluate and issue a certificate for the safety and quality system of the project and submit to the Vietnam Register for appraisal and certification. After that, the investor will accept and hand over the project to the Hanoi People’s Committee for official running. The process is predicted to be protracted.

Expectation from the Minister of Transport’s promise

At a National Assembly sitting on November 3, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The admitted that the progress of urban railway traffic projects was behind schedule.

In the near future, the Ministry of Transport will coordinate closely with big cities’ administrations so that new urban railway projects can avoid repeating such delays, Mr. The said.

Commitments of Mr. The received special attention from the public.

According to the minister, although the workload at Hanoi’s first metro line project is almost completed, the safety evaluation carried out by ACT has not made much progress. The Chinese general contractor has neither provided manufacturers’ certificates, technical documents, test results nor conducted a full evaluation of the field tests. Therefore, ACT has not been able to complete the safety assessment due to insufficient grounds for independent consultancy.

ACT has come up with a solution that they will conduct field validation during the last 20 days of operation and emergency situation drills.

With the minister’s commitment, it is expected that the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway will be in service in early 2021 as planned.

Work on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line began in 2011 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2013. But several hurdles, including loan disbursement issues with China that were only resolved in December 2017, have stalled it for years.

The first urban metro line is one of the key public transport projects in Hanoi. Since September 2018, this project has tested all 13 trains, with an average speed of 35 kilometers per hour.

Project costs have more than doubled from the original VND8.8 trillion (US$378 million) to VND18 trillion (US$774 million), according to state auditors.

When complete, the country’s first metro line will run 13 kilometers from Cat Linh station in downtown Dong Da district to Yen Nghia station in southwest Ha Dong district.

First clinical tests of locally-produced COVID-19 vaccine get underway

December 10, 2020 by vov.vn

According to Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long, in the previous research, Nanocovax has undergone all necessary safety tests, with positive results being collected after conducting trials on monkey and mice.

Following this, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology announced on December 7 the test results of Nanocovax, with a vaccinated hamster being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a 14-day period but not becoming infected with the virus and remaining negative.

This led to the National Ethical Council for Biomedical Research convening a meeting on December 9 in order to evaluate the research documents from the first and second clinical trial phases for local COVID-19 vaccine Nanocovax.

The Military Medical Academy is therefore anticipated to launch the next stage of the clinical trial programme for the COVID-19 vaccine on December 10, whilst also announcing the recruitment of volunteers to participate in future research activities.

The first vaccine shot is set to be given to volunteers who are eligible to participate in the first phase of research on December 17.

To ensure the safety of the volunteers during the trials, the first three people will be injected with a 25 microrgram (mcg) dose of the trial vaccine, with their health conditions being assessed following a period of 72 hours.

The next dose of the experimental vaccine, along with the number of participants in the scheme, will be decided after the results of the first dose given to the three people have been reported. The experimental period for each participant in the programme will be approximately 56 days.

Nanogen initially started their COVID-19 vaccine project in January. Immediately after being licensed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Nanogen moved to invest a sum of roughly VND200 billion to build three factories, whilst also purchasing all necessary materials for research activities.