Covid-19 situation:

Vietnam Nationwide

• Vietnam’s Ministry of Health issued new regulations on December 17, allowing international arrivals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to self-isolate at home for three days. If they test negative on the third day of entry, they will still have to monitor their health for another 11 days.
• A batch of 321,760 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by the UK arrived in Vietnam on December 16, the British Embassy said.
  
• The Vietnamese health ministry has reduced the waiting time between the second COVID-19 vaccine dose of the primary course and the booster shot. Instead of six months, the latest booster guidelines say the third jab can be administered just three months after people received their second shot.
  
• Thousands of tractor-trailers carrying agricultural products that are to be exported to China have been stuck at several border gates in the northern province of Lang Son over the past 20 days.

Ho Chi Minh City

• Ho Chi Minh City authorities are asking the Ministry of Health to send support forces, including 1,000 doctors and 2,000 nurses, to help the city cope with surging COVID-19 cases and deaths.
• HCMC has counted 24,420 people over 65, suffering underlying diseases, and yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Local health authorities are currently trying to reach these individuals to get them jabbed as soon as possible. For a month now, Ho Chi Minh City has reported a high number of Covid-19 deaths, at around 60 per day on average. Most victims are above 50, have underlying health conditions and have not been vaccinated.
  
• A countdown event to mark the 2022 New Year will be organized in downtown Ho Chi Minh City on December 31 if the city is at low or medium risk of COVID-19 transmission, according to a plan unveiled by the municipal People’s Committee.
  

Hanoi

• Hanoi has documented more than 10,500 COVID-19 cases over the past seven days, with the Vietnamese capital’s daily count hitting an all-time high. The districts that registered the most cases include Hoang Mai, Ha Dong, Long Bien, Ba Dinh, and Dong Anh.
•  The surge of new COVID-19 infections in Hanoi in recent days has strained local health units, causing delays in giving support to a certain number of patients who are now struggling to find treatment at home through online advice.
• The Hanoi Department of Education requested 9th and 12th graders in at a medium risk zone of COVID-19 transmission to stop going to offline classes, which were just resumed on December 6 and switch to online learning until further notice.
  

Khanh Hoa (Nha Trang)

• Strong waves caused by Typhoon Rai, combined with high tide, flooded nearly 100 houses in Tuy Hoa City of south-central Phu Yen Province, leading to an overnight evacuation on Sunday. Meanwhile, many lobster farming cages on Binh Hung Island off neighboring Khanh Hoa Province have been severely damaged.
• Khanh Hoa Provincial has issued a plan on the coronavirus vaccine booster and additional vaccine rollout with 1,370,000 doses expected to be administered.
  
• So far in Khanh Hoa, 99.7% adults have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines with 94.8% fully vaccinated. 96.1% kids aged 12 to 17 have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 53.8% have been fully immunized.
  

Da Nang

• The current COVID-19 wave is showing no signs of subsiding as a further 171 positive cases were confirmed in the city on December 22, of which 50 were acquired in the community and the remainder were logged under managed isolation.
• Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen announced that people in Da Nang will receive a third dose of coronavirus vaccines in the first quarter of 2022. Healthcare workers and those at increased risk from the virus due to health conditions will be prioritized for their booster.
  
• Vaccinated people throughout Da Nang, 967,473 have received the first jabs of COVID-19 vaccines whilst 946,040 have got two doses, and 527 have received the third shots against the highly contagious disease.