Measures stepped up against COVID-19 spread

That morning, Hai Duong Provincial Party Secretary Pham Xuan Thang and other provincial leaders worked with Cam Giang District Party Committee on the urgent tasks related to the epidemic prevention, in which the province authorities pledged to create all possible conditions in terms of facilities, equipment, funding and human resources for the district to fight the epidemic.

On the same day, in Hai Duong’s Chi Linh City, local authorities provided entrance cards to locals to the markets on even and odd days to ensure social distancing. To enter the markets, local people and traders must make medical declarations and strictly comply with the epidemic prevention regulations.

Regarding the outbreak in Poyun Company in Chi Linh, within less than 24 hours, 1,625 workers from the company who are in concentrated quarantine sites were moved to nine new quarantine camps to ensure preventive conditions against cross infections. Chi Linh City has mobilised 1,322 officials, teachers and other forces to participate in serving 28 quarantine camps with a total of 3,097 citizens in isolation.

The Provincial Steering Committee for COVID-19 Response decided to establish medical isolation zones for four other residential clusters in Hai Duong City, the province’s capital, and Ninh Giang District.

With Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital's support, the coronavirus testing capacity at the Field Hospital No. 2 located at Hai Duong Medical Technical University in Hai Duong City increased four times to reach 1,000 samples a day.

In Hanoi, in the coming days, the capital city will test all people returning from Hai Duong Province within 14 days from February 2 to 16 and put them in home health monitoring. At the same time, the city will continue to list and test all cases coming from other outbreaks to Hanoi in less than 14 days. To ensure safety for the front line forces, the city uses its budget to organise testing for all local medical staff.

The Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Thai Binh Province decided to suspend the organisation of cultural and religious events, as well as temporarily closing the relic areas at provincial and national levels in Thai Binh. It strictly controls entries from the epidemic hit areas to the province, while organising second round screening testing for high-risk subjects.

Thai Nguyen Province said that it has quarantined all the people returning from the epidemic hit areas. The whole province maintains a quarantine force continuously 24 hours a day at 28 posts at the gateways to the province.

On February 17, Soc Trang Province announced that 16 cases returning Soc Trang from the epidemic hit areas had negative results for SARS-CoV-2. Previously, 18 out of 39 F1 cases (close contacts to infection cases) were announced to have tested negative for the second time, while 21 other F1s are waiting for their second test result.

Along with several localities, from February 17 to February 21, Ben Tre Province continued to let local students to be off from school to prevent COVID-19 infection, while assigning the province’s Department of Education and Training to implement online teaching.

The Centre for Disease Control in Ho Chi Minh City said that from February 17, the southern economic hub started to expand random sample taking at bus stations and docks, aimed at implementing a plan to monitor people from epidemic areas returning to Ho Chi Minh City after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. All civil servants and public employees are urged to make honest medical reports.

COVID-19 testing will be also conducted randomly on passengers aboard flights from Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Hai Phong to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City by the local health sector from yesterday. Airplanes from Hanoi will be sprayed with disinfectant according to international standards right after landing. Passengers are urged to wear facemasks throughout the flights, as well as to make health declarations and measure body temperature before boarding.