Now is golden time for Hai Duong to stamp out COVID-19: Deputy Minister

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son speaks during a visit to check in the northern province on February 18. (Photo: VNA)

Hai Duong (VNA) – Now
is the golden time for to stamp out the COVID-19 outbreak, said during a visit to check COVID-19 response
in the northern province on February 18.

Hai Duong must speed up testing and report to the Health Ministry if it needs assistance, he added.

The minister also pointed out
that the transmission of the highly contagious UK COVID-19 variant and the mass
movement of industrial park workers to return to work after Tet remain the biggest challenges to
the province’s effort to contain the coronavirus spread.

Later the same day, Chairwoman of
the People’s Committee of Kinh Mon town Nguyen Thi Lieu said a temporary
lockdown order has been imposed on the headquarters of local cement producer Vicem
Hoang Thach from 2:00pm after one of its workers was confirmed to be infected with
COVID-19 in the morning.

The town’s Steering Committee for
COVID-19 Prevention and Control immediately collected samples from all
1,635 workers of the company for coronavirus testing.

On the same day’s afternoon, Chairwoman
of the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s Hanoi Committee Nguyen Lan Huong, on behalf
of the capital city, handed over financial assistance worth 2 billion VND (87,000
USD) and 50,000 medical masks to aid COVID-19 response in Hai Duong.

As of 3:00pm on February 18, Hai
Duong has confirmed a total of 576 cases, according to the provincial
Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control./.