By Phuong Nguyen
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s health minister said on Tuesday that a newly detected coronavirus outbreak, which infected 301 people and spread across 10 provinces and cities, is caused by the most contagious British variant of the coronavirus.
“The new variant is spreading fast, we have to be faster,” said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc, who heads the COVID-19 task force, at a government meeting.
“We shouldn’t be so concerned about the increase in the number of cases. The most important thing is to track contacts. We have to be vigilant, but not panic.” Six days after the virus reappeared in northern Hai Duong province, the cluster is under control, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, according to a government statement. With the virus in the capital Hanoi – where 20 new cases have been detected – it will take longer, he added.
“Sequencing of the gene showed that 12 of the 276 newly detected patients are positive with the UK variant, although the source of this outbreak remains unknown,” Long said in a cabinet meeting. “We need to strictly adhere to the mask regulations.”
With the new strain, Long said, each infected person can infect about 10 people, compared with five in the last waves that Vietnam faced.
Thanks to targeted mass testing and strict quarantine, Vietnam has maintained its virus count at a low number of 1,882 cases and 35 deaths, gaining applause worldwide for one of the most successful national responses to the pandemic.
TESTING CAPACITY
“Hanoi has to step up measures to contain the virus. The health ministry will support the city to increase testing capacity to 40,000 tests per day, ”said Long.
Hanoi has collected 15,000 samples since the last outbreak and currently has the capacity to carry out 5,000 tests a day, a Hanoi health department official said on Monday.
Vietnam approved a vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC on Saturday after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the country should have one in the first quarter.
The government had previously said it was in talks to acquire 30 million doses of the vaccine. State media reported that the first batch of 50,000 doses would arrive in March, with the rest delivered in June.
Vietnam reported 31 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. Officials said they would try to contain the most recent outbreak by February 6.
(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by James Pearson, Ed Davies and Gareth Jones)
Originally published