World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Vietnam Kidong Park. (Photo: VNA)

Park said the cumulative number of confirmed cases per 1 million population remains about 16 so far, and the cumulative number of deaths per 1 million population is about 0.4 so far. He added that these are the lowest figures among the 15 countries with more than 90 million population.

Though Vietnam has recorded no new cases of community transmission within the past 50 days, he noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating its resurgence in many countries due to the presence of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Park suggested Vietnam should remain vigilant while doing economic activities, adding that everybody should practice basic infection prevention measures such as hand washing, mask wearing, physical distancing and avoiding places with high risk of transmission.

He stated that as of Tuesday, more than 230 candidate vaccines are under development globally. Of these, 64 are either under clinical trial, and some of them have been in phase 3 or being authorized for emergency use in some countries. Some vaccines are under review of WHO emergency use listing. Park highlighted that WHO recognizes Vietnam’s active participation in this global effort with one of its candidate vaccines already started clinical trial phase 1.

Vietnam has recorded 1,548 infections, including 35 deaths while the world has confirmed more than 98 million cases.