HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and interrupted a major ruling Communist Party meeting, state media reported on Saturday as the country struggled with its biggest coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began.
Vietnam, a country of about 98 million people that has so far been successful in fighting the virus, has registered 180 new cases since reporting two cases transmitted locally in northern Hai Duong province on Thursday.
This is a rapid spread, as Vietnam has recorded only 1,739 cases and 35 deaths since the disease was first detected a year ago, including 873 infections transmitted locally, thanks to mass testing and a centralized quarantine program.
“We are experienced in dealing with recent outbreaks,” Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son said in a government statement on Saturday, adding that authorities would try to contain the outbreak by February 6, before the Lunar New Year holiday. .
The government statement said materials and equipment designed to combat a hypothetical scenario of up to 10,000 boxes would be deployed before the Lunar New Year holiday. The head of the coronavirus task force had already defended an elaborate plan to prepare for a scenario of 30,000 cases.
Vietnam blocked two remote districts in Gia Lai’s Central Highlands coffee province on Saturday after at least five people tested positive for the virus, the government said.
“The disease has spread to the community, the variant is dangerous and is spreading very quickly,” said a statement, adding that all cases in Gia Lai are linked to Hai Duong’s epicenter.
Authorities rushed to test thousands of people while authorities confirmed that the outbreak had spread to Hanoi, where the ruling party is holding its five-year congress to choose a new leadership.
State media reported that the congress would end on Monday, a day ahead of schedule. The reports did not say why and were subsequently removed from the state’s official media websites.
The Vietnamese health ministry approved a vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC for domestic inoculation hours after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Friday that the country should have a vaccine in the first quarter.
The government had previously said it was in talks to acquire 30 million doses of the vaccine.
The port city of Haiphong, where a case related to the new outbreak was detected, also said it would separately seek to secure 2 million doses of vaccine for its population.
Most of the new cases were recorded in Hai Duong, where 2,340 factory workers were isolated after an employee contacted a person who tested positive for the UK’s most contagious variant B.1.1.7 on arrival in Japan in mid-January.
Reporting by James Pearson, Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Written by James Pearson; Editing by Angus MacSwan