The health sector of Vietnam is capable of diagnosing, treating and curing patients infected with the acute respiratory disease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV), Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son has said.

The isolation ward for nCoV patients at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases
in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA) 

Expressing the confidence at a meeting in Hanoi on February 3, Son further said there are about 17,000 confirmed nCoV cases, including 362 deaths, around the world at present. The fatality rate of this disease is some 2 percent, compared to the 9.6 percent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the past.

He predicted that the number of nCoV cases is likely to soar in the time ahead.

Meanwhile, health of the eight infected patients in Vietnam has shown improvement. Notably, a case under treatment at the Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has been tested negative for the virus for three times, and he is set to be discharged from hospital on February 4. A patient in Thanh Hoa province has also been tested negative and came out of hospital on February 3.

The deputy minister said with the health sector’s capacity, support from other sectors and drastic directions by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam, the Ministry of Health will fulfill its tasks to ensure people’s health.

Regarding Chinese nationals returning to work in Vietnam after the Lunar New Year holiday and the possible surge of Vietnamese coming home from China, where the nCoV is raging, Deputy Minister of Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Tran Don said the border guard force has suspended the entry into Vietnam by people from China at all border crossings.

At border gates, relevant agencies will isolate all people coming from nCoV-hit areas, especially China’s Hubei province – the epicenter of the epidemic. Meanwhile, suspected cases or persons from other affected regions will also be quarantined at medical establishments or local communities, he added.

At the meeting, Deputy PM Dam, head of the national steering committee for the nCoV-caused disease prevention and control, stressed that relevant agencies and localities must not be subjective but stay proactive in disease prevention and control.