Case reports in emergency medicine

Vietnam reports 92 more Covid-19 cases

The Saigon Times

A local man in Ha Tinh Province has his samples collected for Covid-19 testing. Vietnam’s Covid-19 tally reached 10,630 with 92 fresh cases reported this morning, June 14 – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – Vietnam’s Covid-19 tally reached 10,630 with 92 fresh cases reported this morning, June 14. Of the new infections, there was one imported case who was quarantined upon arrival in the country, while 91 others were locally-transmitted, the Ministry of Health confirmed.

Among the fresh locally-infected cases, HCMC accounted for the most at 30 cases, followed by Bac Giang with 23 cases. Tien Giang had 14 cases, Ha Tinh recorded 10, while nine were reported in Bac Ninh and four in Binh Duong.

Especially, Bac Kan reported its first case in the latest coronavirus wave, raising the number of virus-hit localities in the country to 40 up to now.

Yesterday afternoon, a working team led by Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son had a Covid-19-related meeting with the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases, which has seen 52 cases among its staff in the past two days. Son said that the ministry would set up a taskforce to assist the city as well as the hospital with the Covid-19 fight.

To soon bring the outbreak at the hospital under control, Deputy Minister Son suggested the hospital increase its frequency of collecting samples of employees for Covid-19 testing to at least 3-5 times per day. The hospital, the HCMC Pasteur Institute, the HCMC Center for Disease Control were told to jointly deploy multiple measures to serve the test-and-trace works.

The hospital has to ensure the safety of patients and medical workers to continue offering treatment and care to patients, Son stressed.

Also, he requested the whole hospital be put under lockdown for a week.

Speaking at the meeting, Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, director of the hospital, suggested the hospital temporarily stop receiving new Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms in the next week while it still handles coronavirus patients who are in severe condition and need ECMO support.

Covid-19 testing activities at the hospital would remain as normal, Chau added.

Vietnam emerges as one of new PPE suppliers globally: IFC

The Saigon Times

A woman works at a face mask manufacturing company. Vietnam’s PPE manufacturing capacity surged six-fold in 2020 – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – Vietnam has emerged as one of the new personal protective equipment (PPE) suppliers globally and its PPE manufacturing capacity surged six-fold last year, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

This ramped-up supply was initially driven by textile manufacturers shifting production in response to the health emergency during the Covid-19 pandemic and to mitigate losses caused by canceled orders for garments.

“Some textile manufacturers who started producing PPE products as an immediate response to the pandemic, are now considering the medium to longer-term business opportunity in this area,” said Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association.

“However, local manufacturers have struggled with insufficient input materials, technical skills and sector knowledge and the disparity between local and international standards to access the global market,” he added.

In response, as part of the global PPE advisory program supported by the UK Government, IFC is working with local garment manufacturers through the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association and national labs through the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality of Vietnam, IFC announced on June 9.

The aim is to improve PPE producers’ operations and reduce costs by removing unnecessary burdens related to PPE standards and conformity assessments.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has tested the resilience of supply chains to the limit, especially in terms of medical supplies, including PPE. The UK believes that the diversification of PPE manufacturing will make the global supply chain more adaptable and prevent future disruption,” said Gareth Ward, British Ambassador to Vietnam.

“I am very pleased that Vietnam has been chosen as a priority country for this UK government-funded program. Vietnamese companies have a lot of potential to succeed globally with a skilled labor force,” he added.

Over the next 18 months, the program will support select manufacturers to scale quality PPE production, access the reliable supply of materials and equipment and achieve PPE international standards and certification to expand exports.

According to Kyle Kelhofer, IFC country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, access to cost-effective and quality PPE products is vital to the national Covid-19 response, helping to contain and manage the spread of the coronavirus.

“Promoting the production of PPE products in compliance with international standards not only helps increase Vietnam’s resilience to the pandemic, but also presents a business case as the PPE global supply chain is diversifying with opportunities for new manufacturers from emerging markets including Vietnam,” he said.