WHO chief representative: Vietnam sustainably control COVID-19

Dr. Angela Pratt said that those COVID-19 is still reported in Vietnam, there’s no sign that hospitals and health services are overloaded with COVID-19 cases.

The Ministry of Health and relevant agencies have strengthened oversight at border gates, at hospitals and in the community and enhanced DNA sequencing to detect variants and sub-variants, which are the cautious measures, said the WHO official.

Angela Pratt urged Vietnamese people to strengthen vaccination, especially in the high-risk groups.

She warned that the fight against COVID-19 is not over yet as many people are getting infected, hospitalized, and dead in many countries around the world.

According to the WHO, over 500 different variants of SAR-CoV-2 have been recorded so far. Omicron is now the dominant variant of infection cases globally with many sub-variants. In particular, XBB sub-variant, discovered since October 2022, has so far spread in more than 70 countries.

Pratt said XBB is a recombination of Omicron’s two sub-variants. To date, XBB and its offshoots have been found in more than 10 countries in the West Pacific, including Vietnam, and will spread in the coming time.