Most Covid-19 cases in Nghe An are asymptomatic

On February 7, Mr. Nguyen Huu Le - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health said that in the first days of the new year of Nham Dan, the number of Covid-19 cases in the province continuously recorded record numbers. However, most of these cases were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.

“Specifically, on February 6, Nghe An province recorded 958 cases of Covid-19 infection, but only 34 cases had to be treated on the 2nd floor of the 3-storey tower for treating Covid-19 patients and 19 cases were treated on the 3rd floor. The remaining cases were asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases treated on the 1st floor, at home if conditions permit, or in local treatment areas,” said Mr. Le, adding that the 2nd floor of the 3-storey tower is for patients with moderate symptoms, the elderly, those with underlying diseases, and those with risk factors. The 3rd floor is for patients with more severe symptoms.

A symptomatic patient in Nghe An is examined by doctors. Photo: Tien Hung

Mr. Chu Trong Trang - Deputy Director of the Center for Disease Control of Nghe An province said that the reason for the sudden increase in the number of cases in the province in recent days is because factories, businesses, and schools organized tests for workers, laborers, and students before returning to work at the beginning of the new year. "Nghe An is one of the provinces with a large number of workers returning home for Tet, so the risk of disease spreading during Tet is very high. The increase in the number of infections like this was also anticipated by the health authorities," said Mr. Trang, adding that in recent days, more than 50% of the infections recorded in the area were asymptomatic.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, Nghe An has recorded more than 17,500 Covid-19 infections, with 46 patients dying, accounting for 0.26% of the total number of infections, much lower than the national average. In the past month, from January 7 to now, the whole province has recorded nearly 9,000 Covid-19 infections, but only 10 patients have died.

Meanwhile, the average number of deaths recorded in the past 7 days nationwide is 94 cases. The total number of deaths in Vietnam to date is 38,324 cases, accounting for 1.6% of the total number of infections. The total number of deaths ranks 24th out of 225 territories. In terms of deaths per million people, Vietnam ranks 128th. Compared to Asia, the total number of deaths ranks 6th out of 49 countries and territories (3rd in ASEAN), the death rate per million people ranks 24th (4th in ASEAN).

Since the beginning of the epidemic, Vietnam has recorded 2,341,971 infections, ranking 31st out of 225 countries and territories, while in terms of the number of infections per million people, Vietnam ranks 144th (on average, there are 23,729 infections per million people).