SARS-CoV-2 infections are rising rapidly
On May 30, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that the infectious disease monitoring system recorded 79 cases of COVID-19 identification in the 21st week, nearly 3 times higher than the average of the previous 4 weeks.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the city from the 16th week to now is increasing rapidly compared to the first 15 weeks of the year (there are only 1-2 cases per week). Accumulated from the beginning of 2025 to now, Ho Chi Minh City has had 204 cases of COVID-19, 43% lower than the same period in 2024.
At the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, since the beginning of the year, the unit has received and treated 6 cases of COVID-19 patients, all of which were mild.
In week 21, the hospital treated a female patient (66 years old) with COVID-19 on the basis of chemocratic bone marrow disease, who had a history of being vaccinated with 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine and had contracted COVID-19 in 2021. The patient with respiratory failure had to breathe oxygen, and is currently in a severe stage.
2 deaths in a state of many serious underlying diseases
General hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City also recorded cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the treatment of patients with chronic diseases. People over 60 years old account for 67% of the total number of COVID-19 cases hospitalized for treatment from the beginning of 2025 to present.
In particular, from the 16th week to now, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has recorded 3 cases of severe underlying diseases infected with SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalized them for treatment in the intensive care unit of Ho Chi Minh City General Hospital.
Of which, 2 cases died in a state of many serious underlying diseases. The male patient was born in 1972, transferred from the provincial hospital with marrow disease, septic shock, pneumonia, multiple organ failure, heart failure, old lung cancer and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The second case is a female patient born in 1979, diagnosed with septic shock, necrotizing pneumonia, renal and renal inflammation, high blood pressure, diabetes, emphysema, and co-infection with SARS-CoV-2.
The remaining cases are 57-year-old patients with high blood pressure, long-term diabetes, hospitalized in a coma, and cardiac arrest before admission. The patient is currently being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit.
Regarding the pathogens, according to a report on May 23 by the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the University of Oxford Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), the observation of NB 1.8.1 accounts for most models of gene explanation from COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the third week of May 2025 at the hospital.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the variety NB 1.8.1 was discovered in early 2025, has been recorded in 23 countries and is believed to be the cause of increased cases in the West Pacific region.
The World Health Organization's SARS-CoV-2 strain monitoring program has classified 9:00 until 8: 8.1 in the VUM group ( strain that needs to be monitored) to continue assessing the risk in the coming time.
On May 21, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health issued an official dispatch on proactively implementing COVID-19 prevention and control in the city in the current situation.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health recommends that people should not panic or worry, but should proactively take measures to prevent and control epidemics according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health to protect themselves, their families and the community.
