Hanoi's health sector is urgently sequencing genes to assess the level of the Omicron strain, Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh made his statement at a meeting on February 27.

“Gene sequencing has not yet produced final results, but we can already state with certainty that two variants of Omicron and Delta are currently circulating in Hanoi, leading to the very fast spread of the novel coronavirus,” said the mayor.

He added that in the next few days, the number of Covid-19 cases in Hanoi will keep sharply increasing. “The municipal authorities consider this to be a huge challenge and pressure for the city’s health system and need timely solutions,” Ngoc Anh said.

He requested the Chairpersons of the People's Committees of districts to keep promoting the pandemic prevention protocols and giving specific instructions for the people to adapt to the situation.

Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh speaks at the meeting. Photo: Viet An

The mayor requested Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha to immediately set up an interdisciplinary working group to check and report daily specific tasks to the city’s government to ensure work efficiency and students’ learning.

Regarding the overwhelmed city’s health stations, Ngoc Anh asked relevant units to use the most effective Covid-19 infection management software to immediately solve it.

The mayor also requested districts to continue paying special attention to high-risk groups, pregnant women, and unvaccinated children. “At the same time, it is necessary to regularly evaluate to adjust activities so that students in 1 to 6 grades in suburban districts can return to online learning for their safety as proposed by the Department of Education and Training,” Ngoc Anh added.

“By all means, we must have a clear roadmap to turn Covid-19 into an ordinary disease with regular medical examination and treatment. Only when it no longer is a pandemic that our lives would return to normal,” the mayor said.

Besides, he asked the Chairpersons of the people's committees of the districts to immediately review the regime of remuneration and allowances for health workers and fully implement it, so that they can focus on professional work in the new situation.

“This is an urgent job that helps secure and strengthens the contingent of medical staff in the ongoing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic where they are at the frontline. There must be a policy of bonus for medical staff besides salaries and allowances to ensure long-term Covid-19 treatment,” Ngoc Anh said.

On the occasion of Vietnamese Doctors' Day [February 27], the Hanoi mayor expressed his gratitude to the frontline doctors and nurses who have worked hard for a long time with the glorious task of protecting local residents’ health.