Giving his direction at a teleconference on healthcare task implementation in 2020 and the prevention and control of Covid-19 on February 25, the government senior official stated that Vietnam has won the “first match” against the deadly virus but has not won the whole battle, as the epidemic is still unpredictable.
However, Vietnam is confident and will resolutely follow the directions from the Prime Minister and the Secretariat on fighting Covid-19, he affirmed.
Reporting at the conference, Deputy Health Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said that all 16 confirmed cases in Vietnam have recovered, and the country hasn’t recorded any new cases in the last 12 days.
The only Covid-19 patient being treated at Quang Ha General Clinic in Binh Xuyen District, Vinh Phuc Province showed negative test results twice. Under the regulation from the Ministry of Health (MoH), he is eligible for discharge.
Tuyen added that since the coronavirus outbreak, various measures to prevent and control Covid-19 have been implemented drastically. However, the global epidemic situation continues to be complicated. Therefore, Vietnam is not lax and it is necessary to promptly treat both Vietnamese and foreigners if any new infections are detected.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, Vietnam has showed its highest anti-epidemic spirit ever, however, there will be more challenging and difficult periods in the coming time as the epidemic has skyrocketed outside China.
In infection prevention, isolation is extremely important, Long said, urging for localities to implement synchronous solutions in isolating suspicious Covid-19 cases, as flowing the success in isolating Son Loi commune in Vinh Phuc's Binh Xuyen district – the epicentre of the province’s Covid-19 outbreak with six among 11 confirmed cases in Vinh Phuc.
Deputy PM Dam affirmed that up until now, Vietnam has controlled the situation by well proactively carrying out necessary tasks at a very early stage. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that Vietnam raising the alert level higher than the WHO’s announcement is a correct move. We always have to consider the worse situation so that the situation does not get worse, while taking into account the worst situation to make sure that there will never be a bad situation,” the deputy PM said.
Vietnam has implemented all of its control measures well at airports and border gates. There is no new cases in Son Loi during the last 13 days. However, with the complicated epidemic situation in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Vietnam must continue to persevere against the disease, Dam emphasised, saying that anti-epidemic work is not only a task for the health sector and other functional forces, but also for each and every citizen.
The deputy PM asked the concerned authorities at all levels to continue to strictly control those who come from the epidemic areas in China and the RoK Korea, with flexible but resolute isolation to not to let infection occur in hospitals’ isolation areas.
He also praised Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City authorities in timely handling the flights from the Korean outbreak areas to Vietnam yesterday and kicked off the isolation process in accordance with the guidance from the MoH.
“In the spirit of international cooperation, we must implement isolation measures. Although it is inconvenient for isolated people, especially international visitors, we must convince them to follow under the international responsibility,” Dam said.
“Children must be in a safe, reassuring and secure environment when they are back to their schools. People must join the authorities in discovering, quarantining and monitoring suspected cases. We must have definitive and strong measures to soon wipe out the epidemic,” the deputy PM stressed.
