At the press brief
The Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control held a regular press conference to inform about the epidemic situation in the city yesterday.
According to the city Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, by the end of October 24, the total number of infection cases in the city was 425,674 patients and 10,996 of them are being treated in hospitals. Especially in the past week, cases of severe patients and deaths have continuously decreased.
Thus, according to Decision 4800 of the Ministry of Health on "safe adaptation, flexibility and effective control of the Covid-19 epidemic", HCMC is classified as level 2 ( or medium risk) because the total number of new cases in the community by 100,000 people within a week is about 74 cases and the rate of Covid-19 vaccination for people aged 18 and over with the first doses of the vaccines reached over 99 percent and the rate of those getting the second doses topped 76 percent.
In addition to the good results of the city’s battle against the pandemic, Dr. Chau told people to stay alert to Covid-19. The city should increase its level of preparedness, alert, and response to identify, manage and care for new cases of Covid-19. Therefore, the health sector in HCMC has prepared to respond to different public health scenarios.
In the first scenario, if the city well control the epidemic, asymptomatic cases or people with Covid-19 having a mild or moderate illness will be isolated at home. Hospitalized people will be brought to the field hospital No.16 in District 7, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in District 5, the City Children Hospital and Tu Du Maternity Hospital.
Dr. Chau speaks at the press brief
In the second scenario, Covid-19 people with mild symptoms will receive treatment at home while serious Covid-19 patients will be taken to the field hospitals No. 13 and 16, field hospitals in districts, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in District 5, the City Children Hospital, the Children Hospital No.1, Tu Du Maternity Hospital and Hung Vuong Maternity Hospital.
As per the third scenario, slight patients will be at home under the management of medical staff members of 135 mobile health care centers. Field hospitals No. 13, 14 and 16 are ready to cure severe Covid-19 patients along with hospitals Cho Ray, People Hospital 115, hospital for Tropical Diseases the City Children Hospital, and the Children Hospital No.1 and No.2, Tu Du Maternity Hospital and Hung Vuong Maternity Hospital.
In the worst-case scenario, people with slight Covid-19 will be under home treatment. Local authorities will set up community Covid-19 teams in addition to mobile teams. If there is a rise in hospitalizations, all medical workers of health care facilities citywide will be mobilized for working at a 300-500 bed field hospital.
The city must prepare 16,000 to 19,000 beds in the worst-case scenario including 2,000 beds in the intensive care unit.
Dr. Chau warned some people are relaxing their alert to Covid-19 by not complying with the 5K principles and preventative measures.
According to statistics of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, 9 out of 22 districts reached the first level or green zones including Thu Duc city, districts 1, 7, 8, 10, Go Vap, Tan Binh and Can Gio and Cu Chi districts by the end of October 24. Meanwhile 12 reached the second level or yellow zone including districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, Phu Nhuan, Binh Thanh, Tan Phu and Nha Be, Binh Chanh, and Hoc Mon. Particularly, Binh Tan District was ranked as the third level or orange area. The City People's Committee suggested departments, district People's Committees and Thu Duc City implement administrative measures flexibly based on the declared epidemic level
Regarding the inspection plan of supporting people affected by the epidemic, Deputy Director of the City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Van Lam said that according to the People's Committee’s plan No. 3456 on October 16, the department has established three inspection teams in 21 districts and Thu Duc City. Inspectors will check whether local administrations have disbursed financial packages to people from November 1 to November 15.
