HCM City tightens COVID-19 prevention measures

HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City has called for tighter measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 ahead of the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday after Vietnam identified 82 new COVID-19 cases related to the two that were conformed late on January 27, the highest number recorded in a single day in the country. 

Speaking at an online meeting on January 28, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan said the city’s authorities have ordered all of its districts and Thu Duc city to limit organisation of festivals or events and mass gatherings of people in high-risk areas such as supermarkets, train and bus stations, airports, schools, businesses and factories.

Gatherings of people must comply with the requirements and guidance of the health ministry.

The city’s measures aim to ensure health and safety for its citizens during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, only two weeks away. 

The city, which is focusing on strict management of foreign entries, said it has told its local health department to intensify supervision of medical quarantine regulations to detect and treat any infections to prevent the virus from spreading.

The department must also take steps to ensure that all medical workers in disease prevention and control are fully aware of the situation and that they fulfill their responsibilities to carry out disease prevention plans and scenarios.

The department will assign tasks to individuals and units if any cases are detected.

The city strongly recommends that people continue to strictly follow the ministry’s measures to prevent winter-spring diseases, including COVID-19.

The city continues to promote its 5K (in Vietnamese) message: Khau trang (face mask) – Khu khuan (disinfection) – Khoang cach (distance) – Khong tu tap (no gathering) – Khai bao y te (health declaration). 

As of January 28 afternoon, the city had identified seven people as F1 contacts (direct contact with the patient in Quang Ninh province). Six of them have tested negative for the virus for the first test. The other is waiting for his test results, according to Nguyen Tan Binh, Director of the municipal Department of Health./.