Vietnam’s Health Ministry confirmed 90,226 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the national tally to 10,070,692.
The newest tally includes the over 44,300 cases from Vung Tau and Gia Lai recorded in previous days that were just added to the database.
Besides the two localities, cases were also recorded in Hanoi (3,635), Bac Giang Province (2,267), Phu Tho Province (2,174), Nghe An Province (1,965), Quang Ninh Province (1,956), Dak Lak Province (1,619), Quang Binh Province (1,217), Bac Ninh Province (917), Ho Chi Minh City (864) Lam Dong Province (714), Binh Duong Province (599), Binh Phuoc Province (532), Da Nang (472), Thua Thien-Hue Province (235), Khanh Hoa Province (208), and Can Tho City (40).
Of the total number, 8,395,066 recovered from the diseases, while 42,733 died.
Vietnam’s fourth coronavirus wave, which started in April last year, seems to be following an irregular pattern. In mid-March, the seven-day average for new cases reached nearly 270,000, then went down to 150,000 by the end of the month. April 2022 also started on a positive note, as the number of daily cases started to drop to only 65,000. But the figures once again rose a few days ago after the health ministry recorded more than 102,000 new infections.
The Vietnamese government continues to strengthen its efforts to vaccinate the whole population. As of Thursday, more than 207 million doses have been administered to the adult population, including 71.2 million first shots, 68 million second doses, and 34.3 million boosters. More than 8 million children aged 12-17 have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
Relevant ministries are also working on the finalization of vaccine passports that Vietnamese can use to enter other countries. The Department of Information Technology aims to start issuing the vaccine passports on April 15. The digital form will bear its holder’s name, date of birth, the disease they’re vaccinated against, number of vaccine shots, and date of vaccination. All the data will be encoded into a QR code which expires after 12 months.
The passport will be available on the PC Covid-19 or Digital Health (So suc khoe dien tu) mobile apps. Those who can’t download the apps will be able to get their passports via the health ministry website.
The country has already reached mutual recognition of vaccine passports with 19 other countries, including the United States, Japan, and Singapore. Vietnam, however, does not require inbound tourists to present COVID vaccination certificates upon entry into the country.
Still one of the ‘worst’ places to be
A new COVID-19 Resilience Ranking released by Bloomberg late last month showed Vietnam rise four places up to 43, from being on 47th place in February. With a score of 62 out of 100, Vietnam lies below Brazil and Thailand and slightly higher than New Zealand and Malaysia.
While the country’s reopening on March 15 and high vaccination rates helped pushed its ranking up, it scored low on lockdown severity and flight capacity. Norway and Hong Kong took the first and last places, respectively.
The March ranking stands in stark contrast with Vietnam’s score in April 2021, when it was at number 11.
Since November 2020, the monthly ranking has provided a snapshot of where the pandemic is being handled the most effectively with the least upheaval to people and businesses. Drawing on 11 data indicators spanning virus containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and progress toward restarting international travel, it captures how the world’s biggest economies are responding to the same once-in-a-generation threat.