Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)HCM
City (VNA) – The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has urged
relevant authorities to strengthen COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control
amid the domination of Omicron variant.
Rising
cases of COVID-19 have prompted the municipal People’s Committee on
March 4 to issue an urgent document on measures to combat the pandemic.
Relevant
authorities across districts and Thu Duc city are required to strictly
implement Resolution 128 on safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since
it is forecasted that more infection chains will be recorded in ,
business establishments and schools should take immediate actions to curb the
spread of COVID-19 among their communities.
Vaccination
progress against COVID-19 has to be accelerated while necessary resources need
to be prepared for for children aged 5 to 11 years old in the near
future.
All
districts and Thu Duc city authorities should check storage, transport and
other facilities as well as human resources needed to ensure safety vaccination
protocols are followed, Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the
city’s Department of Health, said at a press conference late last week.
The
city has recorded more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases in 306 schools this week, 97
percent of them children under 12.
Thuong
said the positivity rate for in schools was 2.3 percent, and all of
children had no or mild symptoms.
Meanwhile,
the city has seen a recent surge in daily cases, with 4-5 patients requiring
invasive mechanical ventilation every day. All the serious cases are either
elderly people or those with comorbidities.
Thuong
expressed concern that the increase in severely ill patients would lead to a
rise in fatalities over the next two or three weeks.
He
said the city has sought the health ministry’s approval to distribute and sell molnupiravir to patients having
prescription from doctors, while waiting for official guidelines on
prescribing and distributing the medicine.
Duong
Anh Duc, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, has asked all
districts and Thu Duc city to take strong measures to reduce the number of
COVID-19 cases, and ensure sufficient supply of medicines and medical
equipment.
He
has also asked the health department to try to protect people in high-risk
groups, and the education and training department to ensure safe direct
learning at schools.
Localities
need to improve the health system’s capacity; strengthen inspection of pandemic
prevention and control at production facilities, supermarkets, markets, railway
stations and bus stations among other crowded places; and strictly handle
violations of COVID-19 prevention and control.
The
HCM City Department of Health is responsible for comprehensive treatment and
sufficient supply of medical equipment and drugs. Minimising the number of
deaths is the top priority.
The
HCM City’s Department of Information and Communications is required to
coordinate with the Department of Health to raise locals’ awareness on COVID-19
prevention and control.
Locals
are not advised to gather or go to crowded places when it is not necessary.
The
city had 222 wards and communes classified as low-risk, 77 as
medium-risk, and 13 as high-risk zones the previous week (February 21-27).
Under
the People’s Committee’s Decision No 3900 issued in November 2021, karaoke
palours, discotheques and bars in high-risk zones have to close in high-risk
zones.
Religious
activities, weddings, funerals and cultural activities in the 13 high-risk
zones must limit the number of participants, while massage and beauty
parlours must restrict their activities to 25 per cent of their capacity./.
Source: VietnamPlus
