Vietnam’s COVID-19 Case Counts No Longer Useful: Experts

Vietnam’s announcement of daily COVID-19 case numbers, including asymptomatic infections, is no longer useful in the current pandemic situation, the local VOV newspaper quoted some experts as reporting. Experts made the statement as the country recorded a decline in the number of coronavirus deaths and an increase in the coronavirus vaccination rate in recent days. Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son said that the number of daily coronavirus infections announced by the Ministry of Health is only for reference and not an important factor to decide on the pandemic level. He highlighted the importance of the number of hospitalizations, serious cases, and deaths. Sharing the same view, Senior Advisor Associate Professor-Doctor Tran Dac Phu of the public health emergency operations center, under the Ministry of Health (MoH), pointed out that many countries no longer count the number of daily coronavirus cases and they focus on limiting the number of infections to a level that does not threaten the health systems. Doctor Truong Huu Khanh, former head of the Department of Infection - Neurology, Children's Hospital 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, suggested that Vietnam should announce the number of serious coronavirus patients with their reasons for hospitalizations, the number of unvaccinated people, and the number of high-risk transmission cases, rather than listing the number of daily coronavirus infections like now. He said counting the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients is not meaningful.  (VOV, Tuoi Tre, hatinh.gov.vn)