As an initiative from Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, the event was attended by the leaders of 42 international cities, including London (the UK), Maryland (USA), Jakarta (Indonesia), Bilbao (Spain), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Ankara (Turkey), Seoul (the Republic of Korea) and Montreal (Canada).
Speaking at the teleconference, Hanoi Municipal People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung outlined the socio-economic characteristics of Hanoi, as well as the COVID-19 fight in Vietnam and its capital city. The total number of confirmed cases in the country stands at 328 while most of the patients have recovered, without any deaths so far. In particular, Hanoi has detected 114 cases, with 113 declared as recovered. No new cases have been recorded for the past 48 days.
Chung stressed that Vietnam and Hanoi have achieved success in combating the pandemic, thanks to the wise, timely and correct leadership from the Communist Party of Vietnam, the National Assembly, the Government, and the Prime Minister under a consistent mindset of uniting the whole nation to fight against the epidemics like fighting against the enemy, while accepting short-term economic losses to protect people's health and lives.
Regarding specific measures, the Hanoi senior leader shared his city’s experiences in organising a detailed and timely tracing for contacts of COVID-19 patients, with those having direct contact to be put into isolation in medical establishments and military barracks, while indirect contacts have been required to practice home isolation under close the supervision of the community and grassroots health care units.
At the same time, Hanoi has also provided adequate information in an open and transparent manner on the epidemic for all citizens by various means of communication, such as newspapers, television, hotlines and SMS system, as well as developed a Smartcity system to manage those in isolation.
Chung also expressed his agreement on the need to establish a cooperation mechanism among global cities to share information and cooperate in the fight against the epidemics, which lays a premise for cooperation in overcoming economic losses caused by the global epidemic crisis as well as boosting economic development post-COVID-19.
Mayor of Seoul Park Won-soon stressed that cities around the world are currently facing a crisis due to the outbreak of COVID-19. He also expressed his desire to build a network of inter-city cooperation around the world to share and create favourable conditions for common and timely responses to new infectious diseases.
At the event, participants from the 42 cities adopted the Seoul Declaration on solidarity and cooperation in fighting COVID-19.
