Regional AlertMinistry asks to tighten border gates to intercept Covid-19 spread January 19, 2024By MBDS Team19 Jan 2024. The Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, Vietnam asked to tighten border gates to intercept Covid-19 spread. According to WHO, health agencies in countries kept recording the Covid-19 new sub-variants including sub-variants such as XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, EG.5, BA.2.86, JN.1 that healthcare workers need to monitor these rates closely.