Foreigners and people coming from Covid-19 epidemic-stricken regions should not be segregated, Kinh te & Do thi newspaper quoted Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue as saying at a meeting on Covid-19 prevention on March 2.

The municipal party chief urged the people to have appropriate behavior to avoid being mistaken for discrimination against foreigners.

Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

According to the city's reports, 2,497 people coming from or transiting through South Korea to enter Hanoi within 14 days are still self-isolation at their home or lodging facilities, including 38 people from Daegu province and 19 people from North Gyeongsang.

Currently, Hanoi's health facilities are capable of deploying up to 5,000 beds to treat Covid-19-infected patients.

He also stressed that all Covid-19 information must be transparent.

Hue appreciated Covid-19 outbreak prevention in localities and commended the Hanoi Department of Health for drastically implementing the guidelines and instructions of the Ministry of Health in preventing the epidemic.

"So far, the city has kept the epidemic under control and won the initial round of fight, contributing to protecting local people’s health," the municipal party chief emphasized.

He requested Hanoi’s authorities to be on high alert, and urged them to give priority to protecting health of the elderly, children and the poor, as well as that of doctors and nurses.

Hue also identified the city’s "dual duty" in the current period which is preventing the epidemic and taking measures to maintain the city’s socio-economic growth.

The municipal party chief stressed the capital city must prepare a scenario to cope with the worst situation, requesting Covid-19 tests for all people in isolation should be quick.

The health sector must review measures to prevent and control the epidemic, ensuring timely supplies for all health facilities, Hue said.

He also instructed localities and the municipal Department of Health to actively take measures to curb the Covid-19 outbreak.

For his part, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung emphasized that the city has become more vulnerable as the disease has spread to many countries.

In case the disease spreads wider, the information given to the people must be specific and transparent, with emphasis on the high risk of infection.

Besides, Chung recommended that the situation of foreigners under quarantine must be regularly updated to their embassies in Vietnam.

As of March, Vietnam has reported 16 cases of nCoV infection, none of them has been found in Hanoi.