People belonging to high-risk groups for COVID-19 in Vietnam’s economic hub Ho Chi Minh City will be further protected under a campaign slated to be implemented soon by local health authorities.

The municipal Department of Health on Friday said it has prepared a plan to strengthen the protection and care of people highly vulnerable to coronavirus transmission, with an aim to minimize both infection and death numbers.

Such people include those aged 50 years and older, those living in long-term care facilities, or those with underlying health conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and weakened immune systems, the department said.

Local steering committees for epidemic prevention and control will make lists of households where these subjects are living and give rapid COVID-19 test kits to all members of every household, the department said.

If a positive result is confirmed for any people not belonging to the high-risk groups, they will be advised to be sent to centralized quarantine facilities in order to minimize risks of transmission for other family members, especially those at higher risks. 

In case a positive result is confirmed for any people of the high-risk groups and with stable underlying health conditions, they will be placed in home quarantine if there are enough conditions for home isolation and if they desire to.

All people receiving negative results will be inoculated against COVID-19 if they have yet to get such immunization.

In case they have been fully vaccinated, they will be given a booster shot provided their second shots have been given at least six months before.

Local health centers will refer the lists of households having members of high-risk groups to the network of companion physicians for remote health monitoring and consultancy.

The network is run by the Vietnam Young Physicians Association and the Quick Response Information Team under the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. 

Once approved by the city’s Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the plan will be implemented until the end of this month, the health department said.

Since the pandemic hit the country in early last year, the city of nine million people has documented 475,795 COVID-19 cases and 18,160 fatalities, the Ministry of Health’s data shows.

Nationwide, a total of 1,280,780 patients, including 1,006,459 recoveries and 25,858 deaths, have been recorded.

As of Friday, health workers had administered 72.63 million first vaccine doses and 53.22 million second jabs to people across the country of 98 million people.

The corresponding figures for the city were some eight million and 6.75 million.

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