Yesterday afternoon, the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control had an online meeting with the steering committees for Covid-19 Prevention and Control in Ho Chi Minh City and the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang.
Vice Chairman of the city People's Committee Duong Anh Duc at the virtual meeting (Photo: SGGP) The steering committee asked Bac Ninh Province to focus on preventing the pandemic spread from industrial clusters to industrial parks. Simultaneously, authorities in Bac Ninh must clarify why the outbreaks in some communes of Thuan Thanh District have lasted for one month as this proves that social distancing regulations are not strictly implemented in isolation and lockdown areas.
Meanwhile, the steering committee lauded authority in Bac Giang Province to do well in the Covid-19 prevention. However, Bac Giang needs to continue screening outside the community to help business establishments re-operate safely.
Professor-Dr. Nguyen Tan Binh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, said that the religious mission initially claimed 22 people arrived at the site in Go Vap District but indeed, up to 55 people were participating in the mission.
Regarding this outbreak, the city health sector has implemented drastic measures by taking all tests for contacts F1, F2 and expanding screening samples of neighbors of them. In addition, Ho Chi Minh City also expanded to take 25,000 samples of employees in industrial zones, export processing zones, Hi-tech parks and then collect 280,000 samples.
According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tan Binh, 20 out of 22 districts have reported cases of Covid-19 infections. Because of the more highly transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus spread is very high risk. Presently, Ho Chi Minh City has enhanced its capacity to test for Covid-19 suspected cases as well as prepared to receive 5,000 patients.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Head of the Steering Committee, emphasized that being a southern metropolis, HCMC must strengthen its capacity for screening, testing, and screening of high-risk areas. The city must call on Covid-19 suspected people to go to medical facilities or inform local authorities.
Ho Chi Minh City is using an "automatic call center" to provide timely medical assistance to those who suddenly fall ill. The city also promotes the application of information technology to manage workers in industrial parks and export processing zones in preparation for a worse situation. Workers are guided to voluntarily take their samples for testing in case the Covid-19 pandemic occurs in industrial parks and health workers are overloaded with work.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam also noted that city authorities must keep an eye on zones for Covid-19 patients and medical isolation to avoid cross-infection when an outbreak occurs in industrial parks.
Vice Chairman of the city People's Committee Duong Anh Duc affirmed that the southern metropolis will comply with Deputy Prime Minister’s direction by completing the list of workers in industrial zones and export processing zones including phone numbers, temporary residence addresses for future epidemiological data.
A total of 241 cases have been logged in yesterday evening, according to the Steering Board. Of 241 cases, 12 were quarantined upon arrival while 229 were domestically-transmitted cases in the northern provinces of Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The national tally reaches 7,870 patients with 3,085 recoveries and 49 corinavirus-related deaths.
