Hanoi (VNA)✃ – Leaders of Hanoi have asked local departments, agencies and localities to continue strengthening preventive measures against the COVID-19 pandemic while ensuring the strict implementation of medical solutions to avoid the spreading of the pandemic.

Though Vietnam has gone through numerous straight days without any new community-transmitted cases, the risk of a relapse of the pandemic is still latent.

16 days without locally-transmitted COVID-19 infection

Speaking at a meeting of the Steering Committee for Disease Control of Hanoi on September 4, Hoang Duc Hanh, deputy head of the city Department of Health, said that since August 19, or for 16 straight days, the capital city has seen no new COVID-19 transmission in the community. However, experts held that the novel virus is still hidden in the community, posing a risk of new infection cases. They cited the case of a patient in the northern province of Hai Duong as an example of infection with the transmission source remaining unidentified. Hanh asked local agencies to remain vigilant against the pandemic, defining the pandemic prevention as a regular, continuous and long-term task, thus forming a new lifestyle and suitable behaviours in the pandemic period. “Only after a vaccine is found can we control the pandemic. But for now and in the future, agencies and localities still have to make sure preventive measures are strictly applied,” said Hanh. He also reminded the community to implement preventive measures recommended by the Ministry of Health – wearing masks, keeping sanitation high, not gathering with a large number of people, making health declarations, and keeping a safe distance when in contact with other people. For healthcare facilities, Hanh asked for the regulation of patients and the preparation of scenarios and plans to respond to the pandemic in case there is an outbreak. At the same time, people entering the country from abroad will continue to have to spend 14 days of quarantine, he said, adding that the sector will work to control the situation, especially when dengue fever continues to develop in a complicated way. At the meeting, Vice Director of the city Department of Transport Vu Ha said that the department has reminded the coach operators and the managers of the carparks to apply preventive measures while engaging in the communications of the measures among the passengers. Meanwhile, a representative from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Hanoi said that the union has effectively popularised measures to prevent the spreading of the pandemic through social networks, its website and other publications. On the threshold of the opening of the new academic year, the union has coordinated with schools to clean classrooms and check the body temperature of students.

Two hospitals remain closed

According to Tran ThiNhi Ha, another deputy head of the city Department of Health, last week, authorities of the healthcare sector inspected all of the local hospitals, including 41 public and 40 non-State facilities. She said that 81 hospitals were examined once, 21 twice and 3 three times. Inspection results showed that 78 out of the 81 hospitals meet the demands of pandemic prevention. But there is still one facility – the Hanoi Eye Hospital 2, that recorded a low level of safety, she said, adding that the department requested the hospital to improve itself in one week before another inspection on September 8. Meanwhile, two hospitals failing to meet safety standards – HITEC Eye Hospital and Vietnam-Japan Eye Hospital – have still been closed. The Saigon Hanoi Eye hospital has managed to meet the safety requirements. However, Ha commented that the self-supervision in some hospitals remained ineffective, including the neglect of cleaning in some places such as lift buttons, doorknobs, and telephones. The facilities were asked to fix the shortcomings, she noted. “In the future, the department will intensify inspections to check if the hospital implements the measures regularly and continuously or not, thus giving timely solutions,” said Ha. Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Ngo Van Quy asked local agencies to continue popularising measures to prevent the pandemic while keeping active supervision so that any new outbreak will be settled within 24 hours. The leader of the city Steering Committee for Disease Control also asked for the continued inspections of hospitals and strict management of people entering the country. For those who wish to spend quarantine time in a fee-charging facility, the city will consider their request. For foreigners who wish to enter Vietnam for less than 14 days, the city will choose hotels meeting pandemic prevention requirements for them, he said. At the meeting, Quy assigned the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to work with the Department of Health to receive 810 people who wish to return to Hanoi from Da Nang in line with the regulations. The Department of Culture and Sports should coordinate with the Department of Health to build a code of conduct and suitable lifestyle in the context of the pandemic on the spirit of adopting to the pandemic, Quy stressed./.