Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh today [August 29] summoned a meeting on pandemic fight with the participation of 1,060 commune leaders in 20 cities and provinces that are on lockdown.
| Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the meeting on August 29. Photo: VGP |
The meeting is aimed to hear shortcomings, difficulties, and recommendations from grassroots levels to make the fight against Covid-19 more effective.
Chinh gathered the grassroots officials for the meeting to ensure that the anti-pandemic mission must be done properly from the lowest level. Chinh, who is head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, insisted that each commune is a “stronghold” against Covid-19.
He asked the two State-run VNPT and military-run telco giant Viettel to upgrade the national video conferencing system for better quality in the next governmental meetings.
Currently, 20 localities imposing Directive 16 that mandate stay-at-home order and closure of non-essential activities include Hanoi and all 19 southern cities and provinces namely Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, and 13 others in the Mekong Delta.
After a week of lockdown, the 20 above cities and provinces saw more than 78,000 new infections.
“It is necessary to get ready for living together and adapting to the new situation of the pandemic, at the same time, taking drastic measures to control the pandemic for socio-economic targets,” the PM said.
To mitigate fatalities, a meeting of more than 400 leading health professionals took place to seek the best treatment protocol. Prof. Nguyen Gia Binh, chairman of the National Association of Emergency, Incentive Care Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, said it’s necessary to shorten the treatment period to ease the burden on the healthcare system and have more resources for patients.
He emphasized that minimizing the number of new infections and critical cases is the best way to mitigate deaths.
| Military medics leave for HCMC. Photo: QDND |
Covid updates in big cities
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC): Today, more military medics and health workers from the north flew for the most populous city and southern localities.
Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the ministry has sent more than 16,000 health workers to HCMC and other southern areas to support the pandemic fight there.
HCMC is taking measures to mitigate fatalities by launching home-based care and mobile medical stations, Long said the ministry has spent a large amount of drug and medical equipment to the south, setting up 11 resuscitation centers, including six in HCMC to treat patients on the critical list.
“The Ministry of Health has spare no effort for Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces,” Long said.
In another move, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam asked HCMC to allow more shippers to make demand met. As residents are required not to leave their homes, authorities shop for them. However, retailers are overloaded with orders. The city has undergone one week of shelter-in-place order.
| Hanoi continues testing in high-risk areas. Photo: Khanh Huy/ The Hanoi Times |
Hanoi today recorded 133 cases, the highest number of daily coronavirus infections since the fresh outbreak broke out in late April. The majority is linked to an infection chain in Thanh Xuan District.
“The fact that Hanoi has been able to control the outbreaks without widespread is a success. However, the outbreaks remain complicated and unpredictable. Moreover, we cannot rule out the possibility that outbreaks lurking in the community will form in the near future,” according to Associate Prof. Tran Dac Phu, senior advisor to the Vietnam Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC).
The local authorities are speeding up testing to quickly detect infections in the community.
Binh Duong: Today, the manufacturing heartland, outpaces Ho Chi Minh City in the daily coronavirus infections with 5,141 compared to 4,957 in the latter, bringing the national daily cases to 12,663.
Currently, the number of Covid-19 cases in Binh Duong hit 104,000. In the week starting on August 22, the province’s infections jumped 1.5 times. It records 4,242 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest rate in Vietnam.
Binh Duong will extend the lockdown until September 15.
Danang is using drones to monitor narrow alleys to make sure people comply with the city’s shelter-in-place order. Military and police monitor the drones and traffic cameras for the anti-pandemic mission.
Secretary of Danang’s Party Committee Nguyen Van Quang said the cameras serve both the enforcement of safety rules and security orders.
As of August 29, Vietnam’s coronavirus infections reached 435,000, including 10,749 deaths. The country’s death rate is 2.5%, a little bit higher than the world’s average of 2.1%.
| Vietnam's coronavirus infections. Source: MoH. Chart: Minh Vu |
