Chairman: City authorities put people's health above all else

He made the statement at a yesterday virtual meeting on urgent measures against the coronavirus pandemic in the southern city as per the Prime Minister’s resolution 86 issued on August 6, 2021.

He said that that the implementation of the requirements for disease control before September 15 as set forth by the Government's Resolution 86 is extremely burdensome and challenging; however, this is also the desire of all city dwellers.

Following the guidance of the Politburo, the call of the Party General Secretary, the direction of the President, the Prime Minister, Ho Chi Minh City will give maximum priority to epidemic prevention and control while putting people's health and life above all else. First of all, city authorities decided to extend the social distance for another month to focus on controlling the sources of infection, bringing the number of infections to the lowest rate, said Chairman Phong.

The head of the city government also expressed that, although people will face many disturbances and difficulties during continued social distancing, city administrators hoped people to join hands with the government in the battle against the epidemic.

Ho Chi Minh City is determined to win the epidemic. The solutions have been adjusted and perfected by leading experts in the health sector, and by steering committees at all levels. The implementation of all solutions must be carried out synchronously and transparently, ensuring the most effective. To achieve that goal, Ho Chi Minh City issued plan No. 2715/KH-UBND on August 15 on urgent measures to prevent and control the epidemic at the meeting.

In order to successfully implement this plan as soon as possible, the Chairman directed many key contents and requested localities and related units to implement more seriously and drastically. In particular, districts and Thu Duc city must strictly keep people at home; especially in the blocked areas. Healthcare workers in these districts must carry out randomized testing to protect the green zones with no community transmission; change yellow areas to green areas, orange areas to yellow areas, and narrow red areas.

Mr. Thanh Phong also emphasized that, at present, city government has been focusing on timely emergency care and reducing deaths. All Covid-19 cases must be admitted into hospitals and under treatment. To do this, the locality must pay special attention to infected patients and their families.

Rapid Response Team must keep close eyes on each household with regular monitoring between the Rapid Response Team and the health status of people with Covid-19. Localities must ensure the "golden time" in emergency and all calls from patients are received for a timely response.

The health sector must take heed of monitoring and treat at home for low-risk infections. This is the first time that Ho Chi Minh City has implemented this home-caring model, so everything is very new and unprecedented. Therefore, localities must pay close attention to the implementation in accordance with regulations including cross-contaminate between family members of infected patients.

The Department of Health urgently coordinated with the Treatment Advisory Group and the Facility Coordination Center to review the treatment facilities in the area, ensuring no overloading, adequate medicine, equipment and manpower.

In addition, it is necessary to quickly convert public hospitals into Covid-19 treatment facilities. Last but not least, more private hospitals are encouraged to participate in treatment according to the model of split hospitals or switch all to treatment. For any private clinics refusing to admit Covid-19 patients, health inspectors will propose the Ministry of Health revoke the license.

According to Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong, vaccines are still the key factor in controlling the epidemic. Ensuring vaccination coverage is a decisive strategic decision in disease prevention from passive to active. Ho Chi Minh City took the initiative to buy vaccines early and the Government approved them, but now it is still very difficult to supply.

Districts and Thu Duc City must strengthen communication making people understand that the best vaccine is the one that is given at the earliest; people should not wait for a vaccine of their choice while there is a shortage of vaccines and the disease is still spreading rapidly, causing many deaths.

Chairman Phong shared that because of the Delta mutation, the fourth outbreak (from April 27 to now) has a very fast spreading speed, spreading to many localities in the southern regions continuing to evolve unpredictably.

Worse, the epidemic has penetrated deeply into the community in many areas of Ho Chi Minh City and some southern provinces with a very high number of cases, causing great damage to life and health, seriously affecting people's lives and socio-economic development.

At present, the situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in the city is still very complicated. From April 27 to now, 142,618 residents have been infected by Covid-19 with 32,149 patients under treatment including 1,851 of them on ventilators because of their serious condition.

The People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has issued Document No. 2718 on continuing to apply social distancing measures throughout Ho Chi Minh City to drastically control epidemic prevention and control according to the government’s Resolution 86 on urgent measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic; Plan No. 2715/KH-UBND of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control with determination to thoroughly strengthen the control of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Specifically, from August 15 to 22, Ho Chi Minh City is determined to reduce the death rate of patients due to Covid-19; no case of severe Covid-19 without receiving treatment; determine to change the red zones and orange zones into green zones and gradually expand green zones.

From August 23 to 31, Ho Chi Minh City moved to expand the green zones to control the epidemic in specific areas such as districts 5, 7, 11, Phu Nhuan and outlying districts Cu Chi and Can Gio, Nha Be.

From September 1 to September 15, Ho Chi Minh City will continue to maintain and control cases in the community provided that the number of hospitalizations per day for treatment does not exceed the number of hospital discharges per day, the number of hospitalizations does not exceed 2,000 people per day.

Simultaneously, Ho Chi Minh City aims to strive by September 15 to ensure that more than 70 percent of the population (over 18 years old) receive the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and 15 percent of the population receive the second dose.

Furthermore, the remaining 15 percent of workers in industrial parks-export processing zones, high-tech zones receive the first Covid-19 jabs.

Regarding social security, Ho Chi Minh City has implemented a center to receive and support essential goods to serve residents in Districts 5, 7, and 12. Ho Chi Minh City has also prepared 1 million safety bags to support people in need; at the same time, establish relief centers and groups in order to promptly assist workers, students, freelancers in small alleys.

At the conference, leaders of districts and Thu Duc city affirmed their determination to control the epidemic by August 30, and speed up the vaccination schedule to reach 50-100 percent of the local population.

Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Cu Chi District Pham Thi Thanh Hien said while implementing Resolution 86; Plan No. 2715 of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control and Document No. 2718 on continuing to apply social distancing measures throughout Ho Chi Minh City to drastically control the Covid-19 epidemic, Cu Chi has adopted seven solutions to maintain the green zones and gradually remove red zones.

According to her, the district is focusing on separating all cases of infected patients still in the community; continue to provide the best care for mild cases of Covid-19 patients in concentrated isolation areas of the district. At the same time, the field hospital for Covid-19 treatment will be put into operation with 500 beds.

Recently, District 4 has seen more Covid-19 cases and many blocked residential quarters. Therefore, the district has consolidated and established quick response teams according to the guidance of Ho Chi Minh City and the district is also supported by Ho Chi Minh City with ambulances at 13/13 wards on duty 24/7 to provide emergency assistance and transport serious cases.

In Can Gio district, there are currently 7 blockade zones where epidemic prevention and control are implemented seriously. Therefore, the leader of this district affirmed that it would definitely keep the green zones, and by August 20 green areas will be seen districtwide and 75 percent of residents will receive the 2nd dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

In the inner city, Phu Nhuan district has been focusing on the care and treatment of F0 cases at home in order to reduce the load on upper-level hospitals.

Phu Nhuan District in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Young Physicians Association provide healthcare serviced at homes. The district also focuses on taking care of the health and spiritual well-being of the medical staff in concentrated isolation areas and the district's Covid-19 treatment center at Phu Nhuan High School.

In addition, the district continues to add 50 more beds at the Covid-19 treatment center to ensure that more mild cases of F0 can be treated in the area.

"Phu Nhuan district strives to control the epidemic by August 30," said Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Nhuan district Nguyen Dong Tung.