Vietnam confirmed on Saturday (May 29) that a new type of new coronavirus has been discovered in the country. This virus can spread rapidly through the air, mixed with the original one in India. And a variant strain found in the UK.
According to local official media reports, Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said at a video conference on the country’s new crown pneumonia epidemic prevention and control on Saturday, “The genome sequencing of the newly confirmed case shows that this new variant virus originated in India and A mixture of variant viruses found in the UK.”
“The newly discovered new coronavirus mixture is very dangerous. This mutant strain is characterized by its rapid spread in the air. Laboratory data show that the concentration of the virus in the throat fluid increases rapidly and spreads very strongly to the surrounding environment. , The replication speed is very fast. This explains to a certain extent why a large number of cases have appeared in different places across the country in a short period of time,” Ruan Qinglong said.
According to the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, before Nguyen Thanh Long issued a statement, there were 7 known variants of the new coronavirus in Vietnam. The newly discovered strain mixture has not yet been named, but it is more infectious than previously known types.
At present, Vietnam is struggling to cope with the new epidemic that broke out in more than half of the country, including major industrial areas and major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. As of 12:00 on May 29, Vietnam has reported more than 6,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,213 confirmed cases locally and 1,500 imported cases. There were 47 deaths in the country.
Previously, Vietnam has been widely praised for its active response to the epidemic. Large-scale quarantine and strict contact tracing have helped keep the infection rate at a relatively low level. The new round of infection worries the local public and the government.
Vietnam, with a population of 97 million, has now vaccinated more than 1 million citizens. According to the country’s health officials, it is now speeding up the vaccination schedule and hopes to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year. Official Vietnamese media reported that the authorities have appealed to individuals and companies to donate money to help purchase vaccines, and have contacted embassies and international organizations for assistance.
