Vietnam deputy PM says COVID-19 outbreak to stay for a long time
Wednesday, August 19, 2020, 08:59 GMT+7
HANOI -- Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said on Tuesday that COVID-19 would stay in the country for a long time, adding that it would take at least a year for the population to have access to a vaccine.
“We have to take measures to live safely alongside the disease,” Dam said at a government meeting.
Vietnam, which first detected the novel coronavirus locally in January, has reported 989 cases and 26 virus-related deaths, with more than half of its infections in the past month alone.
The Southeast Asian country announced 53 recoveries the same day.
A total of 525 patients have recovered from the disease, according to the health ministry.
Five hundred and nine local infections have been reported since July 25, when the country documented its first community-based case after 99 days.
Most of the cases have been traced back to Da Nang.
