Pandemic. Hybrid variant worries Vietnam and the region

Vietnam has discovered a new variant of Covid-19 that spreads quickly by air and is a combination of the Indian and British strains. Local health officials confirmed this on Saturday, May 29. “The characteristic of this strain is that it spreads quickly in the air. The concentration of the virus in the throat fluid increases rapidly and spreads very strongly in the surrounding environment.” Cafes, restaurants, salons hairdressing, and massage parlors as well as tourist and religious sites have been ordered to close in various parts of the country. It is currently ramping up the rollout of vaccines and hopes to achieve collective immunity by the end of the year, The country still has nearly two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but it plans to purchase more than 30 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer, according to the health minister.

In Cambodia, the appearance of this new variant in the neighboring country does not fail to raise questions if not concerns. The Prime Minister recalled that the vaccination campaign had to be carried out in order of priorities. “We cannot vaccinate here a little, there a little, otherwise we will not get any benefit from this issue of vaccination,” he said on Saturday 29, adding that to obtain collective immunity, the government will vaccinate those who are in Phnom Penh, then will move to Kandal province and other provinces where the concentration of workers is high. “We will have enough vaccines for the next phase with over 4.5 million doses arriving in June and beyond,” he said. The plan to immunize 10 million people could be completed by the end of 2021 or early 2022.