Nghe An plans to respond to new Omicron variant

On the morning of December 11, the leader of Nghe An Department of Health said that the unit has just sent a document on strengthening the implementation of measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic against the new Omicron strain to provincial departments, branches and sectors; districts, cities, towns and medical examination and treatment facilities inside and outside the public sector.

Accordingly, the Department of Health recommends that units and localities need to strengthen the implementation of measures to effectively implement Plan No. 598/KH-UBND dated October 21, 2021; Decision No. 3896/QD-UBND dated October 21, 2021 on temporary regulations on a number of measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic to "Safely and flexibly adapt and effectively control the Covid-19 epidemic for each epidemic level in Nghe An province; implement the principle: 5K+ vaccines, treatment drugs + technology + people's awareness, focusing on the main pillars: testing, vaccination, treatment and raising people's awareness.

The risk of the Omicron variant entering Vietnam is very high. Photo: PV

Proactively update scenarios and plans to be ready to respond to COVID-19 epidemic situations in the area, ensuring early access to the entire population, from a distance, right at the grassroots level; improve the capacity of the health system, especially grassroots health, ensure medicines, supplies, and medical equipment according to the "4 on-site" motto and have plans to mobilize, dispatch, and supplement medical personnel; at the same time, continue to promote the role of the community COVID Team, mobile health stations, and prevent patients from being unable to contact medical facilities, receive advice, and receive treatment drugs.

Nghe An Department of Health requires localities to speed up the progress of COVID-19 vaccination for people aged 12 and above as soon as the vaccine is allocated, ensuring safety and effectiveness; review and urgently complete the basic vaccination with enough doses for people aged 18 and above.

In addition, localities must direct and take responsibility for COVID-19 prevention and control in industrial parks and schools. Strengthen inspection of epidemic prevention and control at agencies, organizations, and enterprises, especially at hospitals, production facilities, markets, supermarkets, train stations, airports, bus stations, etc. and strictly implement the regular updating of status on the COVID-19 Safe Living Map (https://antoancovid.vn/).

Students in Nghe An get vaccinated against Covid-19. Photo: Duc Anh

The Department of Health also requires units and localities to strengthen the work of screening and monitoring people returning from epidemic level 3 and level 4 areas inside and outside the province, organize quarantine, health monitoring, and testing according to regulations. Strengthen strict control of population movement, and grasp the situation of citizens when entering and leaving the area.

The Provincial Center for Disease Control is assigned to be the focal point, guide and implement tasks on epidemic prevention and control according to the direction in Official Dispatch No. 1988/CD-BYT dated December 6, 2021 of the Ministry of Health. Specifically, it is necessary to strengthen the surveillance of influenza syndrome (ILI), severe viral pneumonia (SVP), event-based surveillance (EBS), take samples for testing of suspected cases with symptoms of cough and fever to detect COVID-19 cases early; proactively send samples of suspected Omicron variant to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute for testing and gene sequencing. Timely medical isolation, thoroughly handle the outbreak to prevent it from spreading and breaking out in the community.

At the same time, strengthen the monitoring and management of cases entering from abroad, especially cases coming from and returning from countries and regions that have recorded and spread new variants such as the Southern African region (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique...) and some countries in the European region; strictly implement testing, isolation, monitoring, and medical monitoring for entrants in accordance with regulations and strictly handle cases that violate epidemic prevention and control regulations. Advise on the implementation of additional and booster shots for cases with enough time according to the instructions in Official Dispatch No. 10225/BYT-DP dated December 1, 2021 of the Ministry of Health and continue to promote the application of the Electronic Health Record platform to manage and monitor vaccination progress.

The Omicron variant was first detected in Botswana on November 11, reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by South Africa on November 24, and has appeared in 57 countries. Scientists around the world are racing against time to decipher the level of danger of this variant.