Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that Vietnam has fundamentally pushed back the novel coronavirus disease epidemic while chairing a meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control on Tuesday afternoon.

The government leader expressed his delight to see that the country has reported no new community transmisson for the past 12 consecutive days.

With 270 cases among 100 million people, Vietnam’s ratio of infections per million inhabitants is among the lowest in the world, he said.

As of Tuesday, the world has recorded more than three million COVID-19 cases in 212 countries and territories, including 211,609 deaths, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Of the figures, 40,766 cases and 1,447 deaths were reported in Southeast Asia, in which Singapore saw the highest number of cases (14,423) and Indonesia registered the largest number of deaths (765), said the committee.

Vietnam has gone 12 successive days without new cases of community infection.

Among its 270 patients, 222 have fully recovered from the disease while 48 are under treatment at eight hospitals.

Three critical patients have made positive progress, of whom two have been weaned off ventilators and are now practicing breathing on their own.

The steering committee also said five recovered patients testing positive for the coronavirus again are being monitored at health facilities.

Recently, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has collaborated with Nagasaki University of Japan to research and develop antibody test kits.

The Ministry of Health is currently implementing procedures to recognize kits for mass production.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!