addressess the meeting (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh
Long has asked localities to change their tactic and act faster in the
prevention and control of COVID-19 as the pandemic is developing complicatedly
in a different way from before.
Speaking at an online meeting with pandemic-hit localities on
February 2, the minister noted that the new is spreading
faster than the old one by 70 percent, while 70-80 percent of patients showed
no symptoms.
In case that the number of people having contact with
COVID-19 patients becomes too large, making it difficult to trace their
movements, localities should apply immediately and take
samples for large-scale testing, he said.
He underlined the need to be faster and stronger measures to
combat the pandemic.
In the outbreak in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai
where 13 infections were recorded within three days, Minister Long asked the
province to conduct testing and treatment on the spot. Equipment and human
resources will be mobilised to support the locality in the work, he pledged.
For the southern province of Binh Duong where a patient is a
student of a large university having more than 10,000 students, a field
hospital with 400-550 beds has been prepared.
Meanwhile, the northern province of Quang Ninh is working
hard to control the pandemic by the last day of the Lunar Year.
Minister Long asked Quang Ninh to impose large-scale
lockdown in Dong Trieu town. Quang Ninh has had 8,000 coal workers who are on
home quarantine, so that it is necessary to speed up testing so that they can
return to work, he said.
Earlier, 11 additional communes of the township have been
put under lockdown until a notification is issued.
Of the new cases, four were recorded in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, two in the northern province Hai Duong province – the country’s largest COVID-19 hotspot, two in the southern province of Binh Duong, and one in Hanoi.
The country has recorded 1,891 SARS-CoV-2 infections so far. Of the total, 1,003 were locally-transmitted cases, including 310 linked to Hai Duong since the latest coronavirus outbreak hit the province on January 27./.
Source: VietnamPlus
