An empty street at 6:15pm in HCM City. The city has imposed a stay-at-home order from 6pm to 6am (Photo: VNA) Speakingat an online meeting with the four southern provinces of Ben Tre, An Giang, SocTrang and Tien Giang on July 27, Tuyen said the situationrequired more “drastic measures”.
Theprovinces must set up pandemic checkpoints not only between provincesbut also between districts and communes in each province, he said.
“BenTre, An Giang, Soc Trang and Tien Giang provinces have implemented socialdistancing under Directive 16 for nine days. However, only pandemiccheckpoints at provincial borders have been set up, and there were nocheckpoints between districts and communes in each province.”
Thenumber of cases is expected to continue to rise even after social distancing,according to Tuyen.
InSoc Trang Province, as of July 27 the number of infections had increasedto 144 from the first case in July 4.
AnGiang Province had recorded 175 cases as of July 27 with more than 110cases recorded within the past three days.
Tuyenurged the province to enhance the tracing of contacts of COVID patients andincrease testing capacity.
TienGiang Province has recorded more than 2,052 cases since June 5, with 32deaths and 231 people having recovered. All 11 districts and towns in theprovince have detected cases.
Theprovince has recorded 200 cases a day recently, up from 30 cases a day inearly June.
BenTre has detected 585 cases since July 3 with eight out of nine districts andtowns in the province detecting cases.
Theprovinces, most of which have used half of the centralised quarantine bedcapacity, will need to expand these facilities to meet an increasein cases.
TienGiang is the only province that has allowed F1 cases (close contacts of COVIDpatients) to isolate at home, with more than 1,300 F1 casesisolating at home now, according to the provincial authorities.
Treatmentcategories
Thesouthern provinces are classifying COVID-19 patients accordingto symptoms, from asymptomatic to mild to moderate and critically illcases, as guided by the Ministry of Health.
Forexample, Tien Giang has six field hospitals with a capacity of 3,160 beds, ofwhich 2,900 beds are for asymptomatic cases, 200 beds for mild and moderatecases, and the remaining 60 beds for critically ill patients.
Theprovince has established an 80-bed Intensive Care Centre (ICU) which willopen today (July 28).
InSoc Trang, COVID patients will be treated at four field hospitals, which willclassify Covid-19 patients in the same way. The province plans to opena 150-bed treatment area next week, increasing treatment capacity to morethan 600 beds with 40 beds for treating severe cases.
Thefour provinces have been allocated about 395,000 vaccine doses forthree vaccination rounds, with more than 50 percent of the total dosescompleted. They are about to start the third round of vaccinations.
Tuyenalso recommended that southern provinces strengthen testing capacity toquickly detect infections for purposes of zoning, tracing and blockade.
Forprovinces under social distancing under Directive 16, at least 50 percentof workers in industrial zones must be tested for COVID, instead of 20 percentas normal, he said.
Tuyenalso ordered the four provinces to improve isolation capacity with at least10,000 beds per province. The provinces must prepare for a plan to isolate F1cases at home as guided by the Ministry of Health.
Withthe number of cases expected to increase rapidly, Tuyen asked provinces tohave at least 5,000 treatment beds, with at least 100 ICU bedsin each province.
TheICUs should be placed at provincial general hospitals, which will be connectedwith the professional council of the Ministry of Health, and to field hospitalsor lower-level hospitals.
Tuyensaid the Ministry of Health would ensure supply of medical equipment toprovinces.
FollowingHCM City, other provinces in the Southwest region such as Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc,Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Long An, Vinh Long, Kien Giang, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu andothers, have begun imposing strict stay-at-home measures.
Peoplein these provinces are no longer permitted to go out, and allactivities, except for medical emergencies or COVID-19 coordination efforts,are banned from 6pm until 6am the following day. (Ben Tre will enforce therule from 6pm to 5am).
Vehiclesfrom other provinces that must pass through cities and provinces onnational highways must not stop in those areas, under regulations of theMinistry of Transport and the Ministry of Health.
Thesouthern provinces will also issue a paper that allowseach household to buy food and essential items on even or odd daysunder various time frames in order to avoid gatherings in food stores orgroceries./.
VNA
