HANOI, Aug 18 — Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said today that Covid-19 would stay in the country for a long time, adding that it would take at least a year for the population to have access to a vaccine.

"We have to take measures to live safely alongside the disease,” Dam said at a government meeting.

Vietnam, which first detected the novel coronavirus locally in January, has reported 983 cases and 25 deaths, with more than half of its infections in the past month alone. — Reuters