Localities urged to actively review COVID-19 coping scenarios

Speaking at an online briefing session with central hospitals and local health departments on August 27, Long proposed localities to quickly localise, quarantine and suppress any outbreaks to avoid COVID-19 becoming widespread.

He assigned the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to immediately organise training for localities in COVID-19 testing using made-in-Vietnam ELISA test kit, with relatively high sensitivity.

Hospitals were urged to increase testing for medical staff in key departments, as well as for patients with fever, cough or difficulty in breathing.

Concerning several cases of Vietnamese citizens showing positive test results for the coronavirus when arriving foreign countries, while they have been tested negative in Vietnam, Long said that the Ministry of Health has now assigned its Department of Preventive Medicine to contact international medical agencies for further information. However, with a high level of vigilance, Vietnam has immediately quarantined closes contacts to such cases to prevent the epidemic from spreading in the community.

* Also on August 27, the northern province of Hai Duong decided to extend the current medical isolation on an area in Hai Duong City’s Ngo Quyen Street, where a local restaurant have been detected with connection to several cases of infection.

The order lasts for 14 days from 0:00 on August 28. The area, with 71 households, 255 inhabitants, nine kiosks and a State agency, has been under isolation since August 14.

On the same day, the city ordered its wards and communes to remove the local control posts and barriers set up for prevention and fight against COVID-19, but still maintaining quarantine posts at local wet markets. For the seven disease control posts at the gateways to Hai Duong City, they are kept in operation until new instructions are given.

* On August 27, the Da Nang City People's Committee issued a document to assign its Department of Health to coordinate with the Da Nang Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to organise COVID-19 testing for people from outside the city who are residing in Da Nang and have the desire to return to their hometowns, as well as local students who will enrol at schools in other provinces and cities.

On the same day, Da Nang decided to establish a medical isolation zone for the epidemic prevention covering a local residential area in My An Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District. The duration of the medical blockade must be at least 14 days from the date of determination of the last SARS-CoV-2 case in the medical isolation zone and may be extended if necessary.

* Also on August 27, Vice Chairman of Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee Tran Van Tan signed a decision to end the medical blockade on three locales, namely Duy Xuyen District, Dien Ban Town and Hoi An City, from 6 am on August 28, after nearly a month of isolation to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in the community.

Previously, the Provincial People's Committee also issued a decision to remove the blockade of many local residential areas as well as on the districts of Thang Binh, Que Son and Dai Loc.

* From 2 pm on August 27, Quang Ngai Province removed three blockade zones, including the Vinh Linh District Medical Centre (second campus); Don Due Village of Vinh Hoa Commune, Vinh Linh District; and Bau Hamlet of Ha Thanh Village, Gio Chau Commune, Gio Linh District.

* On August 27, in Hanoi, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Tran Thanh Man received two life-support extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) systems worth VND7 billion donated by the NSJ Group to support the COVID-19 fight in Vietnam.

According to Man, up until now, the total amount of donations and registered support through the VFF system at all levels has reached over VND2.2 trillion.

* On the same day, at the headquarters of the People's Committee of Hai Duong Province, Sao Do Club (Hanoi) presented the province with 62,500 medical masks and other medical supplies. In addition, a women's union of emulation from the Ministry of Public Security has supported Hai Duong with 25,000 medical masks and over 100 bottles of antiseptic gel.

* The chapter of the Vietnamese Students’ Association in the central city of Da Nang launched an aid programme on August 27 to help students of local colleges and universities hit by the COVID-19 pandemic to get daily necessities free of charge.

With VND500 million mobilised from different sources, the “Sieu thi se chia 0 dong” (Zero VND supermarket for sharing purposes) programme offers essential supplies, medical products, and food. The programme aims to promptly cater to local students’ demand for necessities so that they can stand side-by-side with the city in overcoming the current pandemic hardship.

The activity scheduled to take place from August 27 to 28 as well as from August 31 to September 1 at the Da Nang College of Economics Planning, the Da Nang Architecture University, and the University of Economics under the University of Da Nang.