Vietnam has recorded no new COVID-19 cases in the past 48 hours.
The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control announced that as of the morning of April 18, the number of COVID-19 cases in Vietnam remained at 268. This is the first time since March 7 that 48 hours have passed without any new COVID-19 cases being recorded in Vietnam.
Also on April 17, 21 patients were announced to be cured. Thus, up to this point, the whole country has had 198/268 COVID-19 patients announced to be cured, accounting for 74%.
Vietnam donates COVID-19 medical equipment to Sweden and Cuba
On the afternoon of April 17, 2020, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung presented COVID-19 prevention and control support goods from the Government and people of Vietnam to the Government and people of Sweden, including 100,000 antibacterial anti-droplet cloth masks made in Vietnam.
Also on the afternoon of April 17, Minister of Construction - Pham Hong Ha, Chairman of the Vietnam Sub-Committee in the Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee, presented a letter from General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong to senior Cuban leaders and symbolically presented 5,000 tons of rice - a gift from the Party, State and people of Vietnam to the Party, State and people of Cuba. And in the coming time, Vietnam is also ready to support Cuba with some medical equipment to serve the work of epidemic prevention and control.
Vietnam Airlines flight bringing Italian citizens home has landed
Vietnamese authorities have coordinated with the Italian Embassy in Hanoi and the ENI company (Italy) to bring back Italian citizens who are "stuck" in Vietnam due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. The Vietnam Airlines flight also transported the masks that the Vietnamese Government and people sent to the Italian Government and people.
Flight VN9054 from Italy carrying 60 passengers (57 Vietnamese, 3 Italians) landed at Da Nang International Airport and was strictly quarantined according to regulations. This is an effort by the Vietnamese Government to facilitate foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam to carry out citizen protection work and support the international community in preventing the COVID-19 epidemic.
Hanoi organizes rapid SARS-CoV-2 testing at wholesale markets
On the morning of April 17, at the meeting of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Hanoi, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee - Nguyen Duc Chung requested that during the weekend (April 18-19), localities conduct screening and rapid testing at a number of wholesale markets with a large number of buyers, sellers and traders to control the spread of COVID-19.
The markets that will be implementing rapid testing include Nga Tu So Market (Thanh Xuan), Long Bien Market (Long Bien), Hoang Mai fruit wholesale market, Ha Vy poultry wholesale market (Thuong Tin) and some seafood markets.
Indonesia has the highest number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Southeast Asia
Indonesia on April 17 recorded 407 more cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 acute respiratory disease, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5,923, surpassing the Philippines to become the country with the most infections in Southeast Asia. Indonesian Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto also said that the country had 24 more COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the archipelago nation to 420.
The number of cases re-testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus in Korea continues to increase
The number of people who tested positive again for SARS-CoV-2 after fully recovering has reached 163 since the first case was confirmed on April 8. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the number of cases detected again accounts for 2.1% of the total number of people who have been cured and returned home.
So far, South Korea has discharged 7,829 patients after being declared cured. Of the 163 relapse cases, 109 are women. By age group, 38 relapse cases are in their 20s, followed by those in their 50s - with 32 cases. Of the 137 relapse cases, 61 showed symptoms and no cross-infections have been reported from relapse cases, the KCDC said.
Wuhan City Revises COVID-19 Data
On April 17, Wuhan city authorities (capital of Hubei province, China) announced changes in data related to the COVID-19 epidemic. Accordingly, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in this city is 3,869, an increase of 1,290 cases compared to previous figures. The number of infected people also increased by 325 cases to 50,333.
Thus, after adjusting the death rate in this city is 7.68%, 2.53% higher than the previously announced figure of 5.15%. Wuhan authorities later explained that the epidemic broke out too quickly in Wuhan, causing the number of patients to increase dramatically in a short period of time. This pushed the medical system into a state of severe overload, causing many people to be unable to go to the hospital for treatment and die at home.
The number of deaths from COVID-19 worldwide exceeds 150,000 people
According to the latest data as of April 17, the number of people infected with COVID-19 worldwide is 2,239,082, of which 153,913 have died and 569,953 have recovered.
In particular, COVID-19 continues to develop complicatedly in the US when in the past 24 hours, the country recorded 4,591 more deaths, the highest ever. This death toll is much higher than the 2,569 cases recorded the day before. Meanwhile, the number of new infections in the past two days is equal to 31,451 cases on April 16. Up to now, the number of positive cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the US is 678,210 cases, of which 34,641 people have died.
COVID-19 continues to increase in many European countries
On April 17, Dutch health officials confirmed that in the past 24 hours, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country increased by 1,235 to 30,449, and the number of deaths increased by 144 to 3,459.
On the same day, Swiss health authorities announced that the number of positive cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the country has exceeded 27,000, specifically 27,078 people. In the past 24 hours, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased by 1,059 people.
In the UK, in the past 24 hours, the number of hospital deaths due to COVID-19 increased by 847 to 14,576 and 108,692 cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus were recorded out of a total of 341,551 people tested.
The French Senate also announced that more than 940 sailors on the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and said that 500 other sailors on the aircraft carrier had also shown symptoms of COVID-19.
Belgian authorities announced that the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 acute respiratory disease has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people in Belgium, thereby confirming the high mortality rate in this country compared to most other European countries.
The Spanish hotspot also recorded an increase in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections to 188,068 cases on April 17, after recording 5,252 new infections, an increase of 2.9% compared to the previous day.
Russia's COVID-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee said that as of noon on April 17, within 24 hours, the country had recorded 4,069 more cases of infection with the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19 acute respiratory disease, bringing the total number of infections to 32,007.
Bulgaria locks down capital, many countries extend state of emergency
From April 17, the capital Sofia of Bulgaria will be locked down to limit the spread of the COVID-19 acute respiratory disease, which has increased sharply in the past two days in this city.
On the same day, the Romanian Parliament approved the extension of the "state of emergency" for another 30 days until May 14. Romania began implementing the "state of emergency" on March 16 after the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections exceeded 100. According to data updated to April 16, this Eastern European country recorded 7,707 infections and 392 deaths.
Meanwhile, in Portugal, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on April 16 announced the extension of the "state of emergency" for another 15 days, until May 2, in an effort to control the COVID-19 epidemic.
Germany declares successful control of COVID-19 infection rate
German Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn said on April 17 that after four weeks of implementing response measures, Germany has so far succeeded in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 acute respiratory infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Germany's health system is not overloaded and the country will not continue to "leave empty" about 10,000 intensive care beds by allowing surgeries, which were previously postponed to respond to the epidemic.
Germany has so far carried out more than 1.7 million COVID-19 tests, equivalent to about 350,000 tests per week, which could increase to 700,000 tests per week if needed. The successful containment of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is reflected in the daily infection rate slowing down to 0.7%.
Italy pilots mobile contact tracing app
Italy is planning to deploy a smartphone application developed by tech startup Bending Spoons to track contacts of users who test positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, as part of measures to help the country lift its lockdown to prevent the spread of the disease.
Italy said that after piloting in some regions, the government hopes to deploy the application nationwide and this is one of the main measures in the strategy to respond to the epidemic in Italy in the coming time.
WHO warns about the rate of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection in Africa
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that over the past week, Africa has recorded a 51% increase in new cases and a 60% increase in deaths.
According to statistics, the top 5 countries with the highest number of infections in Africa as of the end of April 17, in order, include: Egypt (2,844 cases and 205 deaths), South Africa (2,783 new cases and 50 deaths), Morocco (2,564 new cases and 135 deaths), Algeria (2,418 cases and 364 deaths) and Cameroon (996 cases and 22 deaths).
IMF approves nearly $1.4 billion emergency aid package for Pakistan
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on April 16 that its executive board has approved nearly $1.4 billion in emergency aid for Pakistan to help the country cope with economic difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The aid, under the IMF's Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), will help Pakistan cope with the decline in foreign exchange reserves and allow Islamabad to cover increased spending to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and mitigate its economic impact, the statement said.
UK rushes to produce 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
In an announcement on April 17, scientists at Oxford University said they were recruiting volunteers for phase 1 human trials of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and rushing to mass-produce it, despite concerns that the trial results may show the vaccine is ineffective in preventing COVID-19.
The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine is the result of research by a group of scientists at Oxford University, and is also one of at least 70 potential vaccines being researched and developed.
