Vietnam has basically kept the COVID-19 pandemic at bay, with new infections and deaths falling markedly nationwide, especially in the country’s epidemic epicenters, the Ministry of Health reported at a meeting on Saturday.

The meeting was held by the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to review the COVID-19 fight from September 25 to October 8, against the backdrop that the country has gradually reopened its economy to live safely with the coronavirus.

The total number of community-based COVID-19 infections over the period decreased 47.3 percent against the preceding week and 44.7 percent from two weeks earlier, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long told the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who heads the committee.

The number of infections across the country sharply fell to 4,795 on October 8 from 9,682 cases on September 25, a drop of more than 50 percent, according to the ministry’s data.    

During the past seven days, Ho Chi Minh City and its three neighbors Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An, the four COVID-19 hotbeds in the Southeast Asian nation, have registered sharp reductions in both new infections and deaths, Minister Long said.

The city documented 15,070 COVID-19 patients in the period, down 14,766 cases from the preceding week, while Binh Duong recorded 400 positive cases, down 559, and Dong Nai reported 41 patients, down 19.

Similar considerable reductions have been seen in Hanoi, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, and many other localities.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the daily COVID-19 fatality has declined drastically, from 340 cases on August 22 to 123 on September 25 and to 78 on Friday. 

Ten out of the country’s 62 pandemic-hit cities and provinces have not recorded new coronavirus infections for the past 14 days, Cao Bang Province continuing to be the only location with zero known cases, the ministry said.

The number of serious and critical cases during the past seven days has reduced 16.4 percent compared to the previous week.

Around 91 percent of coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave erupted in Vietnam, the ministry reported.

The ministry emphasized that the pandemic is still unpredictable in Vietnam as well as in the world, and a new wave can strike anywhere and anytime.

In the past week, a large number of people have spontaneously moved back to their hometowns in the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City and its three neighbors where they had been stuck during the COVID-19 movement restrictions, the ministry said, warning that such relocation can cause further virus spread.

The meeting also discussed many important issues such as arranging for people to return to their hometowns, introducing guidelines on adaptation to COVID-19 developments and effective control of the pandemic, carrying out social security activities, restoring supply chains, and others.

PM Chinh asked relevant agencies to forecast upcoming epidemic developments and identify tasks and solutions to be performed in the coming time.

Since it erupted in the country in early 2020, the pandemic has caused 831,643 infections, including 759,482 recoveries and 20,337 deaths, the Ministry of Health reported on Friday evening.

Except Cao Bang, the coronavirus has spread to 62 out of the country’s 63 cities and provinces, Ho Chi Minh City suffering the most with 407,399 infections and 15,603 fatalities.

Health workers have administered over 50 million vaccine doses, including 1,498,557 shots on Thursday, since inoculation was rolled out on March 8.

More than 13.6 million people have been fully vaccinated.

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