Only in the past 18 hours, the country had an additional 109 cases, a never before seen record number.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Senior Advisor of the Public Health Event Response Center, assessed that the current outbreak is more complicated than the previous one.

According to Associate Professor Phu, Vietnam is coping at the same time with the British variant and the Indian double variant, which can spreads rapidly and reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine. Recently, the results of genetic sequence decoding of major epidemics in the country were infected with these 2 strains.

"The new strain spreads very quickly, after only 1-2 days it broke out like an outbreak in Mao Dien commune, Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province now accounts for 72/90 cases of the whole province in just 4 days", said Prof. Phu

Also during the ongoing epidemic, there are many methods of infection such as in hospitals, on planes, in bars, karaoke, and massage parlors ... These are all crowded, high-risk places.

In addition, there were recorded infection at crowded places such as weddings, pubs, restaurants, festivals ... Associate Professor Phu said that all of the above locations have been previously warned by the Ministry of Health. If the locality has a preventive plan early, it could be avoided.

However, Associate Professor Phu said that Vietnam is still under control, most outbreaks still have identified the source of transmission, for example, in the North, it is mainly related to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

Associate Professor Phu recommends that all people obey the 5K message, limit crowds, wear masks, disinfect and always make medical reports for authorities to trace.

Through monitoring the cluster of cases, Professor Nguyen Quang Tuan, Director of Bach Mai Hospital also assessed that the new strain has a very fast rate of infection.

"In the report of the Ministry of Health, there are new cases of only 1-2 days exposure to show symptoms, the virus concentration in the oropharynx multiplies large enough to test positive," said Professor Tuan.

Especially in this outbreak, the rate of complications in the lungs is also higher. In Ha Nam, 4/7 patients had complications in the lungs at the first week, showing that the disease progressed very quickly.

“According to foreign reports, the death rate of the new strain is much higher than the old strain, so we must be very vigilant. Viruses spreading quickly also make prevention measures much more difficult, so it is very necessary for people to perform 5K well  ”, warned Professor Tuan.

Long Tran