On the afternoon of June 3, at the 20th meeting of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Health reported on Covid-19 prevention and control work.
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| Moving Covid-19 from group A infectious disease to group B. Vietnam is one of the countries implementing large-scale Covid-19 vaccination. (Source: SK&DS) |
The National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control agreed to change Covid-19 from group A infectious disease to group B infectious disease, and at the same time, issued guidelines on the application of Covid-19 prevention and control measures appropriate to group B diseases and recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a sustainable control and management plan for the Covid-19 epidemic in the 2023-2025 period in accordance with the new situation.
Pursuant to the direction of the National Steering Committee, the Ministry of Health would like to present the following bases:
The basis for advising on the issuance of the Decision to transfer Covid-19 from group A to group B and at the same time issue implementation instructions
Comparing the provisions of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases and monitoring the epidemic developments in Vietnam, it shows that Covid-19 no longer meets the criteria for group A infectious diseases. The Ministry of Health proposes to apply the provisions of Clause 2, Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases to adjust Covid-19 from group A to group B.
According to WHO, SARS-CoV-2 is still a virus with a fast transmission rate. However, in Vietnam, the number of cases has decreased 8.5 times compared to 2021, and 48 times compared to 2022 (from the beginning of 2023 to May 29, 2023, 85,493 cases were recorded, with an average of 17,000 cases recorded per month).
In addition, the Covid-19 mortality rate in the first 5 months of 2023 decreased sharply to 0.02% compared to the mortality rate in 2021 of 1.86%, in 2022 of 0.1%, equivalent to or lower than the mortality rate of some group B infectious diseases recorded in Vietnam in the past 5 years such as: Dengue fever (0.022%), Malaria (0.017%), Diphtheria (0.102%), Whooping cough (0.417%).
The causative agent of Covid-19 has been clearly identified as the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Covid-19 currently meets the criteria for Group B infectious diseases as prescribed in Point b, Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases: Group B includes dangerous infectious diseases that can spread rapidly and can cause death.
The classification of Covid-19 as a group A infectious disease in 2020 is based on the criteria specified in Point a, Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, specifically: Group A includes particularly dangerous infectious diseases that can be transmitted very quickly, spread widely, have a high mortality rate, or have an unknown causative agent.
In order to synchronously and uniformly deploy epidemic prevention and control measures after Covid-19 has moved from group A to group B, the Ministry of Health is directing units to review Covid-19 prevention and control measures to consider and decide on the application of appropriate measures to the epidemic situation in the coming time.
Authority to publish the epidemic
When Covid-19 was a group A infectious disease: Implement Point c Clause 2 Article 38 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases: "The Prime Minister declares an epidemic at the request of the Minister of Health". Based on this point and the Covid-19 epidemic situation, in 2020, the Ministry of Health advised the Prime Minister to declare the Covid-19 epidemic nationwide in Decision No. 447/QD-TTg dated April 1, 2020.
When transferring Covid-19 to Group B infectious disease: implementing according to Point a, b, Clause 2, Article 38 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee shall declare an epidemic at the request of the Director of the Department of Health; the Minister of Health shall declare an epidemic at the request of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee when 02 or more provinces or centrally run cities declare an epidemic.
Thus, the Covid-19 epidemic, when it has been transferred to group B, is no longer subject to the Prime Minister's epidemic declaration; therefore, Decision 447/QD-TTg dated April 1, 2020 is no longer appropriate. The Ministry of Health reports to the Prime Minister for consideration and issuance of a Decision announcing the expiration of Decision 447/QD-TTg.
After the Decision announcing the expiration of Decision 447/QD-TTg is issued, the Ministry of Health and the People's Committees of provinces and cities will continue to assess the epidemic situation in the locality and implement anti-epidemic response measures according to regulations.
On the conditions and authority to declare the end of the Covid-19 epidemic
Conditions for declaring the end of the Covid-19 epidemic:
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 40, Section 1, Chapter IV of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, Clause 1, Article 5 of Decision No. 02/2016/QD-TTg dated January 28, 2016 of the Prime Minister and Article 1 of Decision No. 07/2020/QD-TTg dated February 26, 2020 of the Prime Minister, 2 conditions are required: No new cases of the disease are detected after 28 days; Anti-epidemic measures prescribed in the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases have been implemented.
Authority to declare end of Covid-19 epidemic:
Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 40 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases: “A person with the authority to declare an epidemic has the right to declare the end of the epidemic upon request of a competent authority.”
When Covid-19 is in group A infectious disease:
Point c, Clause 3, Article 5 of Decision No. 02/2016/QD-TTg dated January 28, 2016 of the Prime Minister: "The Minister of Health decides to consider the proposal for the Prime Minister to declare the end of an epidemic of group A infectious diseases for cases where the Prime Minister has declared an epidemic".
When Covid-19 is converted to group B infectious disease:
The Ministry of Health and the People's Committees of provinces and cities shall, based on the actual situation of the COVID-19 epidemic, declare the end of the epidemic in accordance with current legal regulations.
Therefore, the People's Committees of provinces/cities need to direct specialized agencies to review the epidemic situation, declare the epidemic, and declare the end of the epidemic according to the provisions of law; Implement epidemic prevention and control measures according to the provisions of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, instructions of the Ministry of Health and ministries and branches; review documents and instructions on Covid-19 prevention and control of localities to abolish and amend according to their authority.
Over the past 3 years, to prevent and combat the Covid-19 epidemic, the National Assembly, the Government, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health and ministries, branches and localities have issued documents to direct epidemic prevention and control activities, including many unprecedented specific measures. Therefore, when changing the group of Covid-19 diseases, it will entail synchronous adjustments to the epidemic prevention and control measures currently being applied as well as regulations related to the regime and policies for people participating in epidemic prevention and control, payment of medical examination and treatment costs for Covid-19 patients...
On May 3, WHO announced the Covid-19 Preparedness and Response Strategy for the period 2023-2025. At that time, the Ministry of Health drafted a Plan for sustainable control and management of the Covid-19 epidemic for the period 2023-2025 and is synthesizing opinions and soon issuing the Plan to continue to maintain, effectively control, and sustainably manage the Covid-19 epidemic in the coming time.
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