Deputy PM: Top priority placed on wiping out COVID-19 hotbed in Da Nang

Chairing a meeting of the National Steering Committee for
Prevention and Control in Hanoi on July 31, Dam, who is also head of
the committee, lauded the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of National
Defence and Ministry of Health for sending more experts and staff to join in the
fight against the pandemic in Da Nang.

As new infection cases are mostly related to three hospitals
in the city, he asked localities, especially major cities, to strengthen
countermeasures.

Amid the rapid and complicated developments of the pandemic
worldwide, members of the committee agreed to suggest the PM issue a document ordering
preparedness in the new normal period in case of outbreaks like in Da Nang.

The Ministry of Education and Training was also required to
prepare plans for the upcoming high school graduation examination in line with
the Prime Minister’s Directive 16/CT-TTg.

At the event, Director of the Health Ministry’s Department
of Preventive Medicine Dang Quang Tan said as of 7pm on July 31, Vietnam
recorded 546 infection cases, including one death, a 70-year-old man residing
in Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam.

Acting Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the
pandemic in Da Nang is relatively complicated because infection source remains
unknown.

As many patients there also suffer other severe diseases,
the Health Ministry has deployed the best equipment and staff to the locality,
he said, adding that testing capacity has also been raised to 10,000 samples
per day.

According to him, the ministry established a special
permanent unit in charge of COVID-19 combat in the city, continued tracing down
those travelling to and from Da Nang and its hospitals, as well as collecting
samples for testing. Over 451,400 Realtime RT-PCR tests have been carried out
nationwide so far.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc
said the 2020 high school graduation examination is still on schedule for
August 8-10.

He added that the Ministry of Education and Training will
continue working closely with the Health Ministry and localities to ensure the
exam amid the pandemic.

About the repatriation of Vietnamese citizens from abroad,
Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung said the Foreign Ministry coordinated with representative
Vietnamese agencies abroad and domestic authorities to arrange flights for
prioritised citizens, including 219 from Equatorial Guinea on July 29 who were
immediately sent to the second branch of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases
in Hanoi’s outlying district of Dong Anh for testing and treatment.

Other flights also carried home 212 citizens from Indonesia
on July 29, 170 others from Brunei on July 29, about 290 from the US on July 3,
and 240 from Myanmar on July 30./.