Army to use all forces to help southern localities wipe out COVID-19: Minister
Entrusted by the Government, the army is determined to use all means and forces, within and even beyond its ability, together with Ho Chi Minh City, the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai and other COVID-19-hit localities, to wipe out the pandemic and bring people’s life to normal, Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang has affirmed.
Hanoi (VNA)♐ – Entrusted by the Government, the army is determined to use all means and forces, within and even beyond its ability, together with Ho ChiMinh City, the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai and otherCOVID-19-hit localities, to wipe out the pandemic and bring people’s life to normal, Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang has affirmed.
Giang made the statement at a ceremony at Noi Bai International Airportin Hanoi on August 23 to bid farewell to a delegation of the Military MedicalUniversity, including 1,096 officers and students, who were heading to support the southern provinces and city to fight the pandemic.
Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)
The delegation, including 264 doctors, 73 nurses and 759 students, will be divided into 341mobile military medical groups.
They will take responsibility for theestablishment of temporary COVID-19 treatment hospitals, collecting samples fortesting, providing vaccination and necessities, giving medical care for thosewith common diseases and COVID-19 patients in quarantine facilities and athome, and other tasks at request, Giang said.
Earlier on August 21, the Military Medical University also sent 295 officersand students, who were divided into over 100 groups, to the southern region.
ꦜ In response to the appeal of Party General Secretary Nguyen PhuTrong, directions by the Government, the Central Military Commission and Party Committees at all levels, the entire military forces have deployed over 1,900 checkpointswith over 13,000 staff in border areas, nearly 5,000 checkpoints with more than22,000 officers and self-defence militia in localities, 190 vaccination sites serving over 270,000 people, set up 10 temporary COVID-19 treatment hospitals,turned a general military hospital into a COVID-19 treatment hospital, andestablished a treatment centre for moderately and critically ill patients withthousands of medical staff.
The army has donated 510 billion VND (22.1 million USD) to the national COVID-19vaccine fund, deployed thousands of vehicles carrying vaccines to localities,sprayed disinfectants in affected areas. Many units also joined in voluntaryblood donation, set up stalls to sell goods at zero Vietnamese dong, and helpfarmers harvest farm produce./.
Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long has asked for close collaboration between the medical sector and the army as vaccines will come in great quantity and need to be preserved in strict conditions in the near future.
Vietnam administered over 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine on August 10, the highest one-day increase since the country starts its vaccination campaign on March 8, according to the health ministry's report on August 11.
The General Department of Logistics's Military Medical Department has devised a plan to ensure military medics to maintain the safety of Hanoi and northern provinces amid complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to sending staff to support southern localities.
The Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence held an online ceremony on August 23 to launch a special emulation movement on COVID-19 prevention and control in the online form with the participation of 4,500 military officers and soldiers nationwide.
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The delegation before departure (Photo: VNA) 
Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang speaks at the event (Photo: VNA) 
