Which best distinguishes an infectious disease from a noninfectious disease

COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health has proposed considering COVID-19 a Group A infectious disease , not an endemic disease in its latest draft on COVID-19 prevention and control measures in the new situation. Per the draft, Vietnam is still in the transition period between pandemic prevention and sustainable management. Regarding the reason why COVID-19 has not been considered an endemic disease in Vietnam yet, the Ministry of Health said that most countries in the world are in a state of unstable cases and deaths, with an erratic increase and decrease trend when new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appear. At the same time, acquired immunity (due to vaccines and infection) has not been stable for a long time and decreases over time. As a result, the application of epidemic prevention and control measures should be flexible and gradually moves towards the "new normal". The announcement of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in … [Read more...] about Health Ministry yet to consider COVID-19 endemic disease

Administering the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to medical staff in the northern province of Ninh Bình. — VNA/VNS Photo Hải Yến HÀ NỘI — If Việt Nam declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, it will meet many difficulties in pandemic prevention and control and be hit by slower economic recovery, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has said. Under the latest draft plan on COVID-19 prevention and control in the new situation, which is waiting for input from the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, ministries, provinces, cities and experts, the MoH said that the pandemic situation has basically been controlled nationwide. However, the pandemic situation is still complicated in many countries and is even increasing again in some. The virus is constantly changing and recording new variants, which could potentially cause a strong outbreak on a large scale, beyond the health system’s capacity. Latent risks The SARS-CoV-2 virus has constantly … [Read more...] about Ministry of Health explains reasons for not announcing end of COVID-19 pandemic

With many unwilling to take booster shots, the General Department of Preventive Medicine said such people should sign forms to "underline their responsibility" in the Covid fight. Some localities are already getting people to sign the forms. Phan Trong Lan, head of the department, told correspondents Monday: "Covid-19 vaccination is a requirement in the pandemic fight. As such, people need to get vaccinated as per existing regulations and in the right doses. "The fact that localities are requesting people to sign forms to 'take responsibility' is to show their responsibility to the public." However, this has caused some confusion. Hai Anh, 32, of Hanoi, asked, for instance: "Why did we not have to sign anything when getting the first and second doses? "Is it possible to make everyone sign ... whenever there is an epidemic?" A VnExpress reader with the handlephuongthuy1973 account said in a comment: "Is getting Covid-19 vaccines a right or a duty? If it is a right then … [Read more...] about Signing vaccination refusal declaration forms ‘unfeasible:’ lawyer

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son visits and encourages a pediatric patient who is under dengue fever treatment at District 8 Hospital on June 27. Up to now, the city recorded a total of 18,976 dengue cases, an increase of 151.6 percent over the same period with 7,542 cases, comprising 311 severe cases. After a week, the rate of severe patients to the total number of dengue cases was 1.6 percent, an increase of over four times over the same period with 33 out of 7,542. This week, 21 districts and Thu Duc City in HCMC excluding District 12 are facing a dengue fever “emergency” with 2,548 cases, up 611 cases over the past four weeks and a death related to the disease rising total death to ten from the beginning of the year to now. At that time, there were 825 hand, foot, and mouth disease cases, a decrease of 217 cases over four weeks ago. By the 25th week, HCMC had a total of 7,634 infections with hands, foot, and mouth disease. By Thanh An- Translated by Huyen … [Read more...] about Number of weekly dengue cases in HCMC continues to rise

Vietnam will keep a close eye on the emergence of new strains. Vietnam has detected imported BA.5 Omicron sub-variant after conducting gene sequencing of newly confirmed patients' samples, according to Dr. Phan Trong Lan, director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health (MoH). Lan underscored that initial research showed the Omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 spread faster than the old sub-variants (BA.1 and BA.2). There has been no specific evidence of the new sub-variants’ virulence, but some studies indicated that there is an aggravation in the African region. However,  the director confirmed that Omicron sub-variant BA.2 still remains the dominant one in the country. “The emergence of new strains is inevitable as a result of border reopening and the new normal situation, in which precautionary protocols are relaxed,” Lan said. He added that the BA.5 sub-variant was first detected in South Africa in January. Since then, it has … [Read more...] about BA.5 Omicron sub-variant detected in Vietnam

The Ministry of Health yesterday said that the country recorded 769 new Covid-19 infectious cases on June 28, increasing 132 cases over the previous day in 37 localities. The whole country had 9,505 recovered cases and three deaths related to the disease. Signing for commitment would show the higher role of residents in pandemic prevention and control in the new normalcy and under the appearance of new variants. In addition, Deputy Head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Duong Thi Hong confirmed the importance of booster doses. During the passing time, the country had over 40 million Covid-19 doses for the third one and over 3.4 million doses for the fourth one which had been performed safely. People should get vaccinated for durable immune. By Quoc Lap- Translated by Huyen Huong … [Read more...] about Signing for commitment to vaccination shows people’s responsibility