Ho Chi Minh City re-kickstarts prevention campaign to fight COVID-19

Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan hosts the meeting

Upon reporting on updates about the disease situation across the southern city, Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the Municipal Department of Health, noted that Ho Chi Minh City has recorded a total of 62 COVID-19 cases, with all of the patients being cured and subsequently being discharged from hospitals. 

Most notably, from April 3 there had been no new COVID-19 infections in the community for 116 consecutive days. At present, as many as 449 people have been put into isolation at concentrated quarantine areas while 237 others are self-isolating at home or in their place of residence.

Between July 1 and July 26 a total of 4,907 people returned to Ho Chi Minh City from the newly-detected COVID-19 hotspot of Da Nang, with the majority now self-isolating at home for a 14-day period. Of which, 1,359 people had been tested for the virus, with 167 showing negative results.

The southern metropolis also requires all passengers to undergo a health check, fill out a medical declaration, and have samples taken to test for COVID-19 when being held at the quarantine area in Tan Son Nhat International Airport and other entry points.

Addressing delegates at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Le Thanh Liem requested that departments, sectors, and districts work closely to monitor the evolution of COVID-19, in addition to helping local people acess more information on prevention and control of the epidemic.

Liem also asked local police to tighten their monitoring of foreigners and Vietnamese nationals who have recently arrived from epidemic-hit areas, thereby contributing to swiftly detecting and quarantining COVID-19 cases in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s guidance. Indeed, local people are also required to wear face masks in public places.

The southern city will act in order to ensure supply of essential goods remain, even in the worst-case scenario for the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s departments, sectors, and districts must also submit plans to cope with the pandemic and beready for every scenario.

At the event, Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan hailed the efforts put in by the metropolis to cope with the pandemic. He went on to ask local authorities to detect and investigate rings of illegal immigrants in a bid to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 and control the virus.