Vietnam confirms latest virus outbreak is more contagious UK variant

[snoop1130]

Vietnam confirms latest virus outbreak is more contagious UK variant

By Phuong Nguyen

 

FILE PHOTO: Journalists hold their sample tubes at the National Convention Center, the venue for the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Hanoi, Vietnam January 29, 2021. REUTERS/Kham

 

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's health minister said on Tuesday a newly detected coronavirus outbreak, which has infected 276 people and spread to 10 provinces and cities, is caused by the more contagious British variant of the coronavirus.

 

Six days since the virus reemerged in the northern province of Hai Duong, the cluster there was under control, health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, according to a government statement. Containing the virus in the capital, Hanoi - where 20 new cases have been detected - would take longer, he added:

 

"Gene sequencing showed that 12 of 276 newly detected patients are positive with the UK variant, although the source of this outbreak remains unknown," Long told a cabinet meeting. "We need to scrupulously follow mask-wearing regulations".

 

Thanks to targeted mass testing and strict quarantining, Vietnam has kept its virus tally to a low 1,851 cases and 35 deaths, winning plaudits worldwide for one of the most successful national responses to the pandemic.

 

"Hanoi has to increases measures to contain the virus. The health ministry will support the city to upgrade testing capacity to 40,000 tests per day," Long said.

 

Hanoi has taken 15,000 samples since the latest outbreak and currently has capacity to conduct 5,000 tests a day, an official from Hanoi's health department said on Monday.

 

Vietnam approved a vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC on Saturday after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the country must have one in the first quarter.

 

The government had previously said it was in talks to procure 30 million doses of the vaccine. State media reported the first batch of 50,000 doses would arrive by March, with the rest delivered by June.

 

Vietnam reported one new coronavirus case on Tuesday. Officials have said they will try to contain the outbreak by Feb. 6.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-02

 

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[ukrules]

Back in the UK they were wondering where this new variant came from - they still are......

 

We noticed it first by like half a year because we do 50% of the gene sequencing in the world.

 

Did it come into the UK from Asia?

[Tropicalevo]

I thought that Vietnam's borders were closed.

So how di this suddenly appear in Vietnam?

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, Tropicalevo said:

I thought that Vietnam's borders were closed.

So how di this suddenly appear in Vietnam?

 

Presumably, at some point after purposefully and deliberately developing the "new more contagious UK Variant^TM", agents of the British Empire infiltrated Vietnam and released it.

 

But seriously, it seemed that the new cases in Vietnam were coming from illegal border crossings so...

[spiekerjozef]

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

Back in the UK they were wondering where this new variant came from - they still are......

From their bat loving citizens.

[Jeffr2]

9 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I thought that Vietnam's borders were closed.

So how di this suddenly appear in Vietnam?

Good question!  We know where our outbreak came from, migrants.  Vietnam also has a very porous border.  Could have come in from Laos, Cambodia or China.  It'd be interesting to know....

[4737 Carlin]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

patients are positive with the UK variant, although the source of this outbreak remains unknown,

Yes, because millions of British tourists have been flying into Vietnam recently. Are they serious or just stupid ? The 'outbreak' originated from either a Chinese animal torture market or biological weapons lab.

[JungleBiker]

13 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

Good question!  We know where our outbreak came from, migrants.  Vietnam also has a very porous border.  Could have come in from Laos, Cambodia or China.  It'd be interesting to know....

 

No covid here in Laos. 

[Jeffr2]

11 hours ago, JungleBiker said:

 

No covid here in Laos. 

That's funny. ????

[JungleBiker]

3 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

That's funny. ????

 

Not sure why you think it's funny but I guess it's because you don't believe the Lao government's reports. Up to you.  

 

Total number of cases recorded so far is 45, with zero deaths. There are only a few active cases at present and they are in quarantine, two of them were Lao people returning from Thailand.   

[Jeffr2]

3 hours ago, JungleBiker said:

 

Not sure why you think it's funny but I guess it's because you don't believe the Lao government's reports. Up to you.  

 

Total number of cases recorded so far is 45, with zero deaths. There are only a few active cases at present and they are in quarantine, two of them were Lao people returning from Thailand.   

But you said NO cases. Guaranteed the virus is lurking there. As you just said.

 

We had  "no" cases here also. Until December. Then we had a bunch.

 

Unless they are testing, which they aren't, they have no idea what's going on. Thailand admits this.