HCM City (VNA)ꦚ - Three COVID-19 treatment hospitals and three resuscitation centres for caring for critically-ill patients of COVID-19 have been set up in Ho Chi Minh City amid increasingly complicated developments of the epidemic in the southern hub.

Accordingly, the resuscitation centres, each having 500 beds, run by Bach Mai Hospital, Hue General Hospital, and Viet Duc Hospital located at COVID-19 treatment hospital No.16 in District 7, Tan Phu district, and COVID-19 treatment hospital No.13 in Binh Chanh district were put into operation on August 7. These resuscitation centres have contributed to easing the overload in the treatment of critically-ill patients in the city. HCM City is now the largest COVID-19 hotspot in the country. It is going through an unprecedentedly difficult time as number of COVID-19 infections surges daily due to the fast spread of Delta variant, which has caused challenges pandemic response and treatment. The number of new community infections on August 17 in HCM City accounted for 72 percent of the national figure. The municipal authorities are exerting every efforts to minimize the number of deaths in the context that more than 200 fatalities related to COVID-19 were reported per day in recent days.

Worst wave of outbreaks ever

Vietnam is experiencing the most severe wave of outbreaks ever, especially in the southern region. HCM City and other southern localities are making every efforts to curb the pandemic and treat critically-ill patients to reduce the number of deaths. As of August 18, the country logged over 239,000 infections, including 6,472 deaths. The number of deaths has increased rapidly recently. Since the fourth wave of COVID-19 hit the country on April 24, HCM City confirmed 156,186 cases, accounting for more than 50 percent of the national count. As many as 5,197 deaths due to the pandemic have been reported so far. At present, 28 COVID-19 clusters in HCM City have been zoned off and strictly monitored. However, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said the rapid spread of the Delta variant causes many unexpected situations for patients, and makes it more difficult for local health facilitates to respond effectively. According to experts, one of the reasons behind the high mortality rate in HCM City is overcrowding in treatment facilities due to the increasing number of new infections (about 3,000 cases every day) in the past few weeks.

New strategies

To reduce the number of deaths, the Ministry of Health and the municipal authorities are applying new strategies in quarantine and treatment. According to Associate Professor Tang Chi Thuong - Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health, the city is piloting a new model of care and treatment for COVID-19 patients, which has two pillars - home health care and treatment, and emergency and treatment in hospitals. Home treatment will be applied to newly-detected patients with mild symptoms in the community, who meet conditions for quarantine at home. Health workers will guide those patients and their relatives in how to use prescribed medicines at home, collect samples for testing at home, and give advice and medial assistance to those under home treatments. Attention will also be paid to increasing the number of beds equipped with oxygen ventilators in hospitals, improving the capacity of transporting patients to emergency rooms, and using more antiviral drugs in treatment. The COVID-19 prevention and control fund of HCM City on August 17 received ten 29-seater buses worth a total 10 billion VND (437,610 USD) donated by the BRG Group and the Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank). Five of them were presented to the municipal Department of Health and the rest to relevant agencies which are working to bring COVID-19 under control in the southern hub. Earlier, the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC) presented 2,000 personal protective clothing sets, 500 3M face masks, 500 face shields, and 1,920 N95 masks to the COVID-19 treatment hospital No.12 in Thu Duc city. It was part of a programme to present essential medical equipment worth more than 2.6 billion VND to COVID-19 treatment hospitals from donations by the EVN HCMC staff. From March 20, 2020 to the end of August 16, the HCM City COVID-19 prevention and control fund received in excess of 2.34 trillion VND donated by people from all walks of life. Of them, nearly 1.25 trillion VND was in the form of medical devices such as Real-time PCR testing systems, oxygen concentrators, and antigen test kits, among others./.