An empty street at 6:15pm in HCM City. The city has imposed a stay-at-home order from 6pm to 6am (Photo: VNA) HCM
City (VNS/VNA) – has urged
southern provinces to tighten to curb the spread of the
virus amid the worsening COVID-19 situation.
Speaking
at an online meeting with the four of Ben Tre, An Giang, Soc
Trang and Tien Giang on July 27, Tuyen said the situation
required more “drastic measures”.
The
provinces must set up pandemic checkpoints not only between provinces
but also between districts and communes in each province, he said.
“Ben
Tre, An Giang, Soc Trang and Tien Giang provinces have implemented social
distancing under Directive 16 for nine days. However, only pandemic
checkpoints at provincial borders have been set up, and there were no
checkpoints between districts and communes in each province.”
The
number of cases is expected to continue to rise even after social distancing,
according to Tuyen.
In
Soc Trang Province, as of July 27 the number of infections had increased
to 144 from the first case in July 4.
An
Giang Province had recorded 175 cases as of July 27 with more than 110
cases recorded within the past three days.
Tuyen
urged the province to enhance the tracing of contacts of COVID patients and
increase testing capacity.
Tien
Giang Province has recorded more than 2,052 cases since June 5, with 32
deaths and 231 people having recovered. All 11 districts and towns in the
province have detected cases.
The
province has recorded 200 cases a day recently, up from 30 cases a day in
early June.
Ben
Tre has detected 585 cases since July 3 with eight out of nine districts and
towns in the province detecting cases.
The
provinces, most of which have used half of the centralised quarantine bed
capacity, will need to expand these facilities to meet an increase
in cases.
Tien
Giang is the only province that has allowed F1 cases (close contacts of COVID
patients) to isolate at home, with more than 1,300 F1 cases
isolating at home now, according to the provincial authorities.
Treatment
categories
The
southern provinces are classifying patients according
to symptoms, from asymptomatic to mild to moderate and critically ill
cases, as guided by the Ministry of Health.
For
example, Tien Giang has six field hospitals with a capacity of 3,160 beds, of
which 2,900 beds are for asymptomatic cases, 200 beds for mild and moderate
cases, and the remaining 60 beds for critically ill patients.
The
province has established an 80-bed Intensive Care Centre (ICU) which will
open today (July 28).
In
Soc Trang, COVID patients will be treated at four field hospitals, which will
classify Covid-19 patients in the same way. The province plans to open
a 150-bed treatment area next week, increasing treatment capacity to more
than 600 beds with 40 beds for treating severe cases.
The
four provinces have been allocated about 395,000 vaccine doses for
three vaccination rounds, with more than 50 percent of the total doses
completed. They are about to start the third round of vaccinations.
Tuyen
also recommended that southern provinces strengthen testing capacity to
quickly detect infections for purposes of zoning, tracing and blockade.
For
provinces under social distancing under Directive 16, at least 50 percent
of workers in industrial zones must be tested for COVID, instead of 20 percent
as normal, he said.
Tuyen
also ordered the four provinces to improve isolation capacity with at least
10,000 beds per province. The provinces must prepare for a plan to isolate F1
cases at home as guided by the Ministry of Health.
With
the number of cases expected to increase rapidly, Tuyen asked provinces to
have at least 5,000 treatment beds, with at least 100 ICU beds
in each province.
The
ICUs should be placed at provincial general hospitals, which will be connected
with the professional council of the Ministry of Health, and to field hospitals
or lower-level hospitals.
Tuyen
said the Ministry of Health would ensure supply of medical equipment to
provinces.
Following
HCM 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 and
others, have begun imposing strict stay-at-home measures.
People
in these provinces are no longer permitted to go out, and all
activities, except for medical emergencies or COVID-19 coordination efforts,
are banned from 6pm until 6am the following day. (Ben Tre will enforce the
rule from 6pm to 5am).
Vehicles
from other provinces that must pass through cities and provinces on
national highways must not stop in those areas, under regulations of the
Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Health.
The
southern provinces will also issue a paper that allows
each household to buy food and essential items on even or odd days
under various time frames in order to avoid gatherings in food stores or
groceries./.
Source: VietnamPlus
