Facing the complicated developments of the epidemic, on April 29, working delegations of the Government, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and the concerned sectors continued to check and direct the prevention and fighting against COVID-19 in many localities.
At the working session with An Giang provincial authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh as the Mekong Delta province aiming to absolutely not drop the guard in epidemic prevention and control, while well deploying preventive measures especially during the April 30 and May 1 holidays, as well as the upcoming national election on May 23.
Binh suggested that leaders of An Giang need to thoroughly grasp the viewpoint of "fighting the epidemic like fighting an enemy" to highly focus on implementing the instructions on epidemic prevention and communications to raise people's awareness on the disease, while strictly handling violations in epidemic prevention and control, especially illegal entry and exit, reviewing scenarios to respond to all situations, carrying out vaccination for priority subjects, increase screening for high-risk cases, and limiting events that gather large numbers of people, including the upcoming traditional Ba Chua Xu Temple festival at Sam Mountain in Chau Doc City.
Before that, the delegation visited and gave gifts to officers and soldiers at the Vinh Nguon border station in Chau Doc City. Deputy Prime Minister Binh expressed his wish that local border to continue their efforts and uphold their spirit and responsibility to do well the border protection, immigration control and COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control.
On April 30, a leader from Chau Doc City People's Committee said that this year, Chau Doc will not organise the opening ceremony of the Ba Chua Xu Temple festival, while the series of rituals and activities within the festival has been shortened. For delegations registered to visit the site, there is a limit on the number of visitors – who are required to wear face masks, wash hands with antiseptic and have their body temperature measured. This year the festival takes place from June 2 to 7.
Distributing free face masks for COVID-19 prevention in Ca Mau Province. (Photo: NDO/Huu Tung)
On the evening of April 29, a delegation from the Ministry of Health led by Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long worked with Ha Nam Province and inspected the COVID-19 response work in Quan Nhan Village, Dao Ly Commune, Ly Nhan District, where seven local COVID-19 positive cases have been reported.
Health Minister Long asked Ha Nam authorities to urgently zoning off the outbreak in Dao Ly, at the same time, urgently building a scenario to proactively isolate all close contacts to the newly-detected cases. The Ministry of Health will support Ha Nam Provincial General Hospital in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The province should direct all functional forces to focus on immediately controlling the first cycle of the outbreak to not let it from spreading widely, Long requested.
From 18:00 on April 29, Ha Nam authorities temporarily closed and stopped welcoming guests to the Tam Chuc national tourist site in Kim Bang District, as well as other religious establishments and tourist and historical sites in the province. Local festivals, events gathering crowds, unnecessary conferences have been suspended until further notice, along with massage parlours, karaoke lounges, online game centres and entertainment venues.
A delegation led by Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong had a meeting with Tra Vinh province authorities, during which Cuong asked Tra Vinh to prepare sufficient facilities, equipment and human resources to be ready to respond to any epidemic situations in the community, especially a plan to establish field hospitals and prepare human resources for traceability, testing and treatment.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Phuong Nam, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, came to inspect the military forces on COVID-19 prevention and control mission in Phu Quoc City, Kien Giang Province. Senior Lieutenant General Nam asked the local forces to continue to strictly control the situation and do well in propaganda for the pubic on how to prevent and fight the epidemic, while strengthening on-site forces to prevent illegal entry.
At a meeting of the Hanoi Municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Control on the afternoon of April 29, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Xuan Dung required that the warning against COVID-19 resurgence in the capital city be raised to the highest level. He noted that two F1 cases have been detected in Hanoi in connection with the latest cluster of cases in the northern province of Ha Nam, and urged relevant agencies to accelerate tracing work, while tightening monitoring in the context of hundreds of thousands of people travelling during the April 30 - May 1 holidays and then returning to Hanoi after.
On the night of April 29, Dung signed an urgent telegraph on strengthening the implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control in Hanoi. Accordingly, the People's Committee of Hanoi directs a must to wear face masks when going out. The local units are required to strengthen inspection and strictly handle cases of illegal entries as well as cases of not wearing face masks and not following anti-epidemic measures. A temporary halt of operation of massage parlours, karaoke lounges, online game centres and entertainment venues is now in place from 0:00 on April 30.
Medical staff in Yen Bai Province check the medical reporting in Yen Binh District. (Photo: ND)O/Thanh Son)
On April 29, the Ministry of Transport said that it has issued an official letter requesting its agencies and units to strictly comply with the epidemic prevention and control measures, especially wearing masks at airports, seaports, and terminals, while encouraging passengers to register for electronic medical declarations to help limit traffic congestion at epidemic control checkpoints and traffic hubs.
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has proposed to postpone organising activities that gathering a large number of people, while strengthening strict implementation of regulations on epidemic prevention and control in nursing centres, social assistance institutions, rehabilitation centres and vocational training facilities.
On April 29, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism sent missions to check the COVID-19 prevention at tourism business establishments in four provinces and cities of Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Da Nang and Kien Giang to ensure a safe tourism environment to serve tourists during the current holidays. The agency suggested that local tourism authorities continue to strengthen state management and check the fight against the epidemic, while closely coordinating with local units to solve any problems that may arise in the work of management.
Authorities in Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Lao Cai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dak Lak, Ha Long, Yen Bai and Hoa Binh have also ordered local units and people to step up measures to deal with the pandemic, as well as to minimise the organisation of local festivals and suspend the operation of non-essential services to avoid COVID-19 infection.
