Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have asked the Ministry of Health to mobilize 3,000 health workers to join hands with local personnel in COVID-19 prevention and control tasks, citing the rising number of seriously-ill patients in recent months.

In a document sent to the health ministry, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee stated that the pandemic is showing signs of escalating in the metropolis, evidenced by the increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Several COVID-19 hospitals and resuscitation centers require more staff to expand the scale of their operations.

Therefore, the administration asked the health ministry to consider sending 1,000 doctors and 2,000 nurses to the southern city.

Among them, there should be 300 doctors and 600 nurses specializing in resuscitation.

Earlier, the municipal People’s Committee asked the Ministry of National Defense to continue providing support in terms of human resources at mobile medical stations in the city.

Ho Chi Minh City has been the hardest-hit locality since the fourth virus wave hit Vietnam on April 27, with more than 491,600 cases.

As of Thursday, city hospitals were providing treatment for over 11,500 coronavirus patients, about 3,150 patients of whom suffered severe symptoms, with 505 requiring breathing support.

Health workers have administered nearly 14.9 million vaccine doses, with close to 6.9 million out of nine million people in the city fully inoculated.

During the peak of the fourth outbreak in July, the Ministry of Health mobilized nearly 20,000 health workers from northern and central provinces to assist pandemic prevention efforts in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities, according to VnExpress.

When the pandemic was basically put under control in October, most of these health workers were withdrawn from the localities.

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