JULY 2: Ho Chi Minh City continues seeing high infections
Ho Chi Minh is conducting a massive testing campaign of more than 5 million residents until July 5.
Vietnam’s largest metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City on July 2 reported 419 new Covid-19 infections, lifting its total caseload to 4,723, just behind Bac Giang epicenter 5,710 cases.
| Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son at a meeting on July 2. Photo: HCMC Press Center |
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son on July 2 said the pandemic circumstances continued to evolve, leaving high infections, at triple digit daily over the past 10 days.
Currently, Covid-19 has been reported in almost part of the city, attacking 55 out of 130 hospitals.
To enable the local government to stamp out the outbreak, the Ministry of Health will soon allocate another one million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the city, including 400,000 doses arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on July 2, he said.
The city is in the massive testing campaign of more than five million people starting from June 26 until July 5. It’s expected to conduct 500,000 tests per day to detect community-acquired infections.
Son said the situation in the economic hub remains complicated and unpredictable, especially in terms of infections. Moreover, the pandemic is also spreading to neighboring provinces of Long An, Binh Duong and Dong Nai, Tien Giang and Dong Thap, and to Phu Yen, Quang Ngai in the central region.
Regarding vaccines, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Friday [July 2] that about eight million doses will arrive in Vietnam in July from both the COVAX Facility and suppliers.
On July 2, Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC (Nanogen) started a massive clinical trials phase 3 of Nanocovax Covid-19 vaccine on 12,000 volunteers in the north and the south.
The Military Medical Academy monitors the trials in Hanoi and Hung Yen while the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City is in charge of the vaccination in Long An and Tien Giang provinces, Prof. Hoang Van Luong, deputy director of the Military Medical Academy said Friday.
Vietnam makes oxygen delivery devices for Covid-19 treatment
| High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) device. Photo: HUST |
The Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), the first and largest technical university in Vietnam, has teamed up with a local firm to make high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) for patients with Covid-19.
The BKVM-HF high-flow oxygen machine can supply continuous high-flow breathing air, up to 60L/min with adjustable oxygen concentration, from 21% to 100%. The machine, stable at 37 degrees Celsius and moisture saturation through the frame on the nose, is used to treat patients with respiratory failure, according to HUST.
“According to clinical research reports, 60-70% of patients with Covid-19 using this high-flow oxygen machine have recovered, not urgently in need of ventilators. High-flow oxygen machine is a necessary device to support the treatment of patients with pneumonia and respiratory failure in the early stages of Covid-19,” said Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Van Chi at Bach Mai Hospital.
Assoc. Prof. Vu Duy Hai, director of HUST’s BioMedical Electronics Center, said they made the system within two weeks and the device got the Ministry of Health’s licence for mass production.
Each BKVM-HF1 machine is marketed at VND50 million (US$2,170), which is half of the price of the imported one.
The scientists are continuing to improve the oxygen concentrator, which extracts more than 90% oxygen from the air and provides oxygen for medical treatment using industrially-produced gas.
On July 2, Vietnam confirmed 527 infections, driving the total cases to 18,121, including 84 deaths.
| Coronavirus infections in Vietnam. Source: MoH. Chart: Minh Vu |
