All HCM City’s Omicron patients treated, discharged from hospitals

Medical workers test passengers arriving at HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport for COVID-19. —VNA/VnExpress News Photo Đan Phương

HCM CITY — All 12 COVID-19 patients in HCM City infected by the Omicron variant have been discharged from the field hospital No 12.

Nguyễn Thị Huỳnh Mai, chief of office of the city Department of Health, said, “Two of the cases had mild symptoms like runny nose and cough, while the others had no symptoms.”

No one else was found infected among the more than 2,000 people who came along with the patients on the same plane or had close contact, she said.

The city has speeded up vaccination for high-risk groups including people aged over 50 with underlying health conditions. It has 639,972 such people of whom more than 7,100 remain unvaccinated.

The city on Thursday received 300,720 doses of the Spikevax/Moderna vaccine through the global COVAX Facility and distributed them to centres for disease control in various districts to be used as booster shots.

Now 4,152 patients are being treated at hospitals, with 301 requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, 18 being in critical condition and requiring ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) intervention.

Health experts encourage people who contracted COVID to get check-ups again two to six weeks after being cured.

Phan Minh Hoàng, director of the city Hospital for Rehabilitation and Occupational Diseases, said 1,050 patients are getting treatment for post-COVID conditions related to acute respiratory distress syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, brain bleeding, and sleep disorders.

The hospital has launched a phone app called ‘Doctor Home’ for people with post-COVID conditions to get in touch with experts. — VnExpress News