Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh chaired the 15th meeting of the National SteeringCommittee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on July 5 amid the appearance ofthe BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron.

Opening the teleconference withthe 63 localities nationwide, PM Chinh, who is also head of the committee, pointedout that the pandemic remains unpredictable around the world with theemergence of the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron in many countries.

In Vietnam, after thepandemic was brought under control nationwide, some have lowered their guard,especially in vaccination, while authorities have shown slackness in examination.Meanwhile, the country still has to fight against other disease outbreaks andcare for people’s health amid the shortage of medicine and medical supplies, headded.

Since the start of 2022,Vietnam has recorded over 9 million infections of COVID-19, more than 8.3million of whom have recovered and over 10,000 succumbed to the coronavirusdisease (equivalent to 0.1%).

Total infections now stand at10,748,639, including 9,708,984 recoveries (90.3%) and 43,087 deaths (0.4%),according to the national steering committee.

Over the last six months, thedaily number of new cases was around 600 - 700 while severe cases andfatalities continued to decline. During the last 30 days, the numbers of newinfections and deaths have respectively fallen by 4.5 times and 10 times comparedto the previous month, and Vietnam recorded no deaths in 24 days.

By the end of July 3, Vietnamhad administered over 233 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine with almost 80% of itspopulation given two shots, the rate of people aged 18 and above given the thirdshot doubling the global average, and the rate of children aged 5 - 11 givenprimary shots higher than some European countries, making it one of the nation withthe largest vaccine coverage, statistics show.

At the meeting, participants saidBA.5 has been reported in Vietnam, and this sub-variant is 12% more transmissiblethan the dominant BA.2 in the country at present. Therefore, BA.5 infections inthe community may increase in the time ahead, leading to a rise in the numberof new cases.

Given this, the anti-pandemicresponse system from the central to local levels needs to press on with diseaseprevention and control measures, the administration of booster shots tovulnerable groups, as well as communications to raise public awareness, thecommittee noted./.