HCM City sees positive signals after tightening COVID-19 control measures
Ho Chi Minh City has seen positive results after seven days since authorities tightened social distancing and COVID-19 control measures, according to the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.
HCM City has completed rapid testing in high-risk areas with nearly 1.68 million samples collected over the past week, detecting 64,299 infections or 3.8%, the committee’s deputy head Pham Duc Hai told a press conference on the city’s COVID-19 situation on August 29.
The city will conduct tests for residents in the high-risk areas for the second round and speed up the testing at low-risk areas, he said.
Hai added that HCM City has so far inoculated over 5.86 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and provided financial aid worth close to VND59 billion (or about US$2.6 million) to 53,776 poor households.
Special working groups set up in 312 wards, communes and towns of the city are cooperating with local authorities to go proxy shopping for essential goods ordered by residents with each having their orders delivered once a week, said Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Nguyen Phuong.
A representative from the municipal Department of Health, meanwhile, stated that medicine bags have given to COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment at home.
HCM City has also dispatched a total of 754 officials divided into various working groups to assist COVID-19 response efforts in its 21 districts and Thu Duc city.
HCM City, the country’s current largest coronavirus hotspot, had recorded 205,466 COVID-19 cases as of 6pm on August 29. Since January 1, 2021, 104,844 COVID-19 patients have recovered while 8,624 have died of the disease.
