HCM City (VNA) - Secretaryof the HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan has asked relevant agenciesto further strengthen COVID-19 prevention and control measures so that thenumber of cases in the city is contained within 300.

Its health facilities could take in 1,200 patients with COVID-19 at a time, butwhen one person gets the illness, 280 people have to be quarantined, he told anonline meeting with the city Steering Board for COVID-19 Prevention and Controlon March 24.

So if the city has 300 patients, 84,000 others have to be quarantined, and theycould not accommodate 10 percent of that number, he said.

He said the country is trying to prevent the number of COVID-19 cases fromrising to 1,000, and so the city should not allow it to exceed 300. Experiencesfrom COVID-19-hit countries have shown that 100 increased to 1,000within 10 days and to 2,000 within three days.

So the next 10-14 days would be important and decisive for the cityand the country, and it is a big challenge requiring the public, and relevantorganisations and agencies to join the prevention effort, he said.    

If there are 2,000 new cases a day, hospitals with thousands of beds would notbe enough and there are not enough quarantine areas either, he warned.  

Limiting travelling is one way to prevent the spread, and so everyone shouldlimit their travel at this time, he said.  

He called on relevant agencies to think about allowances for people who stay athome to take care of their children like Japan, saying they stay at home forthe benefit of society. They could seek donations from the private sectorif the city lacks the funds, he said.

The city would control transmission from other countries and strictlyquarantine people at high risk of transmission, he assured.

Standing Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem urgedlocal authorities and other relevant agencies to visit every house to find outif anyone has come from other countries since March 8 and test and quarantineanyone at risk at home or quarantine areas.  

They also should advise people aged above 60 to stay at home and limit contactwith other people, he said, adding all residents should comply with preventivemeasures.

Universities that have students still staying in their dormitories shouldencourage them to go home avoid transmission risk, he added.

HCM City is now under highpressure of a surge in novel coronavirus infections due to the influx ofVietnamese nationals and foreigners entering the city from abroad, said NguyenThanh Phong, Chairman of the city People’s Committee.

The Tan Son Nhat International Airport in the city receives an average of1,300- 1,800 Vietnamese nationals from overseas every day, he said.

All arriving people fromabroad are subject to a 14-day mandatory quarantine to prevent the spread ofimported infections, he stressed.

The Health Department of Ho Chi Minh City on March 17 officially put into operation a 300-bed hospital specialized in treating acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in Can Gio district.

This is the second facility exclusively reserved for the quarantine and treatment of COVID-19 patients besides the first one in Cu Chi district.

Deputy Director of the Health Department Tang Chi Thuong said the new hospital will reduce the workload on the Hospital for Tropical Diseases when the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing in the city.

He added that the establishment of a specialized hospital will also reduce the risk of cross-infection.

The same day, the Health Ministry also gave permission to the HCM City Children Hospital No1 to perform SARS-CoV-2 tests, bringing the number of facilities allowed to do such tests in the city to three.

By 7pm on March 26, HCM City reported 36 COVID-19 cases, of whom three have fully recovered./.