A COVID-19 patient treated in hospital (Photo suckhoedoisong.vn) Patients who have health insurance will be covered as perregulations, Huong said at a talk on June 14.
According to the deputy minister, the Ministry of Health (MoH) andthe Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have advised the Prime Minister to sign a decisioninvalidating Decision 447 to switch COVID-19 from group A to group B.
The MoH has issued professional guidelines onthe diagnosis, treatment and infection prevention of COVID-19, ready to beimplemented immediately when the disease is downgraded to the flu-like statusthis month.
Regarding the issue, Phan Trong Lan, Director of the MoH’s HealthPreventive Department, said that the infectious disease surveillance systemalways monitors the situation in a comprehensive manner.
Lan said: “When switching COVID-19 disease from group A to groupB, disease classification is mainly based on pathology according to the Law onPrevention and Control of Infectious Diseases.”
In Vietnam, group A mainly focuses on administrative measures.When switching to group B, the control activities on social administration willbe removed, said Lan.
In other words, if the disease is in group A, the fight againstthe epidemic is participated in by relevant ministries and branches along withthe healthcare sector. However, if a disease is categorised as group B, it isdealt with by the health sector, he said.
At present, the number of hospitalised COVID-19-infected personsis lower than before, and the severity rate has also decreased to equal orlower than that of some infectious diseases in group B, the director said.
According to the MoH, since earlier this year, the whole countryhas recorded 85,493 cases of COVID-19, with an average monthly record of 17,000cases, a decrease of 8.5 times compared to 2021 and 48 times less than 2022.There have been 20 deaths, a sharp decrease to 0.02% compared to 1.86% and 0.1%in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
The deaths recorded during this time are all cases who had beentreated for serious underlying diseases, most of whom had not receivedsufficient vaccinations against COVID-19.
The number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered per 100people in Vietnam is 1.6 times and the primary dose rate is 1.4 times higherthan the world average.
Based on the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, incomparison to the provisions of the Law on Prevention and Control of InfectiousDiseases, and following the updated recommendations of the World Health Organisation,the MoH has proposed to downgrade COVID-19 from group A to group B.
The MoH has implemented disease prevention measures suitable forthe new situation for the period of 2023-2025.
Along with that, the ministry has also reviewed and continuouslyupdated guidelines for COVID-19 prevention and control. They are alsomonitoring severe cases of pneumonia and COVID-19 in the community andenhancing COVID-19 vaccination.
Vietnam classifies infections into three classes A, B, and C,mostly according to the degree of severity.
Group A includes highly dangerous infectious diseases that canspread rapidly, widely, and have a high death rate or the cause of the diseaseis not yet known.
Class B includes dangerous infectious diseases that can be rapidlytransmittable and fatal.
And Class C embraces less dangerous and not rapidly transmittableinfectious diseases./.
VNA
