CDC puts Vietnam out of coronavirus community spread list, tourist don't need to reconsider their travel plans to Vietnam

CDC PUTS VIETNAM OUT OF CORONAVIRUS COMMUNITY SPREAD LIST

On February 27, the Vietnamese Embassy in the United States held an online meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

At the meeting, representatives of the CDC and the Office of Global Affairs, the Asia-Pacific Office of the US Department of Health & Human Services highly evaluates Vietnam’s ability to address urgent public health issues, including emerging outbreaks of infectious diseases by taking comprehensive, drastic and thorough measures to deal with Covid-19. Based on the assessment of the actual situation, CDC decided to put Vietnam out of the coronavirus community spread list.

The CDC representative said that he is planning to visit Vietnam in the second half of March 2020 to promote health cooperation activities and establish of a regional CDC Office in Vietnam. The US Department of Health & Human Services is willing to support Vietnam by supplying trial kits and personal protective equipment for Vietnam to improve the country’s capacity of disease prevention.

OVER 1.000 VIETNAMESE RETURNING FROM south korea QUARANTINED

As of February 27, more than 1,000 Vietnamese and 56 South Koreans were isolated at military units. The Army Medical Department (General Department of Logistics, Ministry of Defence) said that over 300 people were isolated in Military Zone 5; nearly 650 people in the Hanoi Capital City Special High Command; nearly 50 people in Military Zone 3 and 92 people in Military Zone 7.

Recent returnees from Korea were isolated for 14 days upon arrival in areas which separate from those returning from China. Currently the army has put nearly 4,100 people in quarantine, of which nearly 370 cases have been tested negative and subsequently discharged.

According to Lieutenant General Tran Don, deputy minister of National Defense, the army has provided quarantined people with military living standards. Although it is not as convenient as at home or in a hotel, it is relatively acceptable and ensures particularly safe conditions of epidemiology.

CORONAVIRUS SPIKES IN 12 MORE COUNTRIES

As of the morning of February 28, the total number of coronavirus affected has been 53 countries (and 1 cruise). Norway, Romania, Pakistan, Estonia, Netherlands, Nigeria... all reported the first cases of nCoV.

In Italy, 655 coronavirus cases have been reported to date, making it the largest outbreak in Europe, while this country has an intermodal transport connected with the rest of Europe. Citizens of 26 member countries in the Schengen zone can travel within the zone freely, without passing through passport and border control, as well as any holder of a Uniform Schengen visa can travel to all 26 member countries of the Schengen zone - this is believed to be a cause of the rapidly spreading epidemic in neighboring countries.

However, the Ministry of Health from neighboring countries in a meeting in Rome (Italy) said that closing the border will only become an “inappropriate and ineffective” measure at present.

SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OF ‘CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK’ COMMITS SUICIDE

An official from the South Korea Justice Ministry, who was in charged of national emergency situations and crisis management, reportedly took his life by jumping off the Han River and died February 26, the cause of the incident has not been announced.

The official came from the Office of Emergency Safety Planning at the Ministry of Justice. A CCTV footage showed that he indeed got out from his car upon reaching Dongjak bridge (Seoul) and jumped at around 9 am in the morning.

Also on February 27, the Korea Herald reported that five more officials of the Daegu city government were confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19. Up to now, Daegu has reported over 1,000 confirmed cases and another 1,000 in isolation. Earlier, the public health center of Seo-gu in Daegu was shut off, as five of its staff were confirmed with Covid-19 over the weekend.

IRAN’S VICE PRESIDENT TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS

On February 27, Iran confirmed its Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, who advises President on family and women's matters, has become infected with the coronavirus.

Earlier, the chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign affairs committee, the deputy health minister and another member of the Iranian Parliament also announced that they have been infected with coronavirus.

Although the number of infections in Iran has not shown signs of being under control, Iranian health officials have assured that they will soon curb the spread of the epidemic. Currently all events, conferences and cinemas in this country have been shut down to prevent the coronavirus spread.

FIRST CASE OF SECOND POSITIVE TESTS HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN JAPAN

Osaka City confirmed the patient is in her forties and works as a tour guide in Wuhan She first tested positive on 29 January and was discharged from hospital after recovering on 1 February, before testing negative on 6 February. Nearly two weeks after cleared of the virus, the patient developed a sore throat and chest pains, so she went to the hospital for a checkup and was reported to be tested positive again on February 26.

Prefectural officials believe that either viruses that remained in the woman multiplied, or the woman was re-infected. People who are infected develop antibodies, so they can usually avoid re-infection by the same virus. However, if there had not been enough antibodies, that individual could have been prone to re-infection or viruses that had been undetected in the body could have multiplied.

CHINA OFFERS CASH REWARDS FOR VIRUS PATIENTS WHO REPORT TO AUTHORITIES

Qianjiang, a city of around one million people located about 150 km from the stricken provincial capital of Wuhan, has reported a total of 197 cases so far and is stepping up efforts to ensure its infected people are confined and treated.

The Qianjiang task force handling the epidemic said in a notice that residents would be entitled to the full 10,000 yuan payment if their coronavirus diagnosis is confirmed.

THE US AND GERMANY HAVE ESTABLISHED CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE

On February 26, US President Donald Trump sets up a coronavirus task force, as the epidemic began to show signs of spreading in the country. Vice President Mike Pence will be in charge of response to such a deadly coronavirus that there have been 60 confirmed cases in the US.

The German federal government has set up a crisis centre, led by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health, to provide appropriate responses and strategies to prevent the epidemic. Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn affirmed that the epidemic situation has changed over the past few hours with 49 cases reported in Germany and asked people brace themselves in preparing for a possible pandemic.

THE US FINISHED THE FIRST BATCH OF COVID-19 VACCINE

Moderna (MRNA) said in a statement Monday that the first batch of its novel coronavirus vaccine, called mRNA-1273, has been sent to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Initial trials of the potential vaccine could begin in April, but the process of testing and approvals would last at least a year.

The speed within 6 weeks at which it was created represents a breakthrough. Except Moderna, pharma giants Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline are working on vaccines.

My Tống - Lan Oanh