The committee reported that as of 6am of October 15, the country had seen 691 domestically-transmitted cases, with 551 reported since July 25 when the new outbreak began.
There are now 13,658 people having close contact with confirmed cases or coming from pandemic-hit regions under quarantine, including 155 in hospitals, 12,320 in other quarantine sites, and 1,183 at home or accommodation facilities.
So far, the number of recoveries is 1,029. Among the patients still under treatment, nine have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once, four twice and 13 thrice.
According to the committee, the prevention of the virus from entering the country from the outside is of significant importance. The Ministry of Health has coordinated with other relevant agencies to continue to manage and give health supervision to people entering the country from abroad, avoiding the spreading of the virus from quarantine areas to the community.
The World Health Organisation predicted that COVID-19 pandemic may persist throughout 2021 until a vaccine is found.
The Ministry of Health advised people to continue to apply preventive measures, including wearing masks and washing hands frequently.
