Local authorities to be held responsible for COVID-19 transmission in hospitals

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam chairs the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Local authorities must be held responsible for transmissions
in , members of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19
Prevention and Control said at a meeting in Hanoi on August 6.

Deputy
Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the committee, presided over the function to
implement preventive measures in the changing circumstances.

Acting
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the ministry is exerting every effort
to deal with the outbreak in the central city of Da Nang.

Patients
and their family members as well as medical staff are in the highest-risk
group, he said, adding that those returning from Da Nang since July 1 need to remain
vigilant.

Some
localities, in fact, lowered their guard and relaxed preventive measures, Long
pointed out, adding that health facilities and hospitals nationwide must seriously
implement preventive and containment measures such as wearing face masks and following
social distancing measures.

The
ministry is also intensifying testing capacity to quickly detect any new
infections.

Members
of the committee spoke highly of the active engagement and close coordination
of the public security, military, and health forces in the fight against
right from the beginning of the outbreak.

The
committee urged Da Nang and certain districts and towns in neighbouring Quang
Nam province to implement strict social distancing measures.

According
to the Ministry of Health, as of the morning of August 6, Vietnam had recorded
717 COVID-19 cases, including 381 recoveries and nine deaths. More than 320 of all
infections nationwide were imported./.