At the press brief
Mr. Hai made the statement at a yesterday press conference held by the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control to provide information on the epidemic situation in the city.
The designated hospitals for Covid-19 are currently empty and located relatively isolated. In addition, more medical workers will have sent to the infirmary when the number of patients increases.
At the press conference, Deputy Head of HCMC's Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control Pham Duc Hai said that the municipal People's Committee has just announced that the citywide epidemic alert remains at Level 2. However, District 11 and Can Gio District increased from level 1 to level 2 while District 4 increased from level 2 to level 3.
According to him, Districts 1, 6, 7, 8, Tan Binh, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts rank at level 1 while Districts 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, Binh Tan, Binh Thanh, Go Vap, Phu Nhuan, Thu Duc City and Can Gio, Hoc Mon and Nha Be districts at level 2 and only district 4 at level 3.
Duong Tri Dung, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that according to the results of a parent survey, more than 70 percent of parents disagreed to send their children at the first grade to schools from December 13. Therefore, to secure parents, the Department of Education and Training has cooperated with the health sector and localities to develop a careful plan for the safe return to in-person schools.
In addition to direct learning as per the pilot scheme of the city People's Committee, the education and training sector still maintains online learning channels via the internet and via television. This is an indispensable support channel when some students still can’t go to school for various reasons. The Department of Education and Training has prepared studying materials to ensure that all students benefit from the programs," said Mr. Duong Tri Dung.
In addition, the Department of Education and Training has also coordinated with professional agencies such as the Department of Health, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, and the University of Education to come up with a plan to release concerns of parents and students.
Especially, the education authority set up the psychological counseling team at schools to handle situations when students or parents have problems with psychological trauma; at the same time, the psychological counseling team will provide psychological and spiritual support to students from disadvantaged groups. Last but not least, the department will coordinate with the Department of Health to take many steps to train the staff, evaluate the plans on epidemic prevention and safety at schools.
Based on the results of the two-week pilot studying, the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Health will listen to the opinions of leaders in 21 districts and Thu Duc city to submit to the City People's Committee to calculate a roadmap to expand direct schooling from January 3.
According to Nguyen Hong Tam, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), the southern largest city has not recorded any cases of infection from the Omicron variant. Currently, the health sector has been focusing on preventing risks from official immigration sources such as Tan Son Nhat International Airport, and maritime ports.
Immigrants who have had enough doses of Covid-19 vaccine into the city will have to be isolated at concentration quarantine facilities for 7 days and additional 7 days at homes. If health workers discovered a person who is positive for SARS-CoV-2, HCDC will coordinate with the Hospital for Tropical Diseases to sequence the gene for analysis.
The health sector will also cooperate with police forces to prevent those entering Ho Chi Minh City secretly from trails in the southern provinces of Tay Ninh and Long An’s border crossings and the northern border.
In the coming time, the health sector will continue to strengthen domestic epidemic control, to have appropriate measures for different epidemic levels, and send more doctors and nurses to mobile medical stations.
In order to proactively cope with the new variant, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, Chief of Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, said that under the direction of the Covid-19 Steering Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Health coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City Command and Public Security for remote identification to prevent the entry of the new variant.
According to Ms. Mai, Ho Chi Minh City has dissolved eight field hospitals, the remaining 13 field hospitals will not be dissolved according to the once set schedule; however, the Department of Health will convert these facilities into a three-story hospital to treat patients. The Department also instructed the hospitals to be ready for all situations as per scenario.
Ho Chi Minh City currently has 310 fixed medical stations and so far has added 382 mobile medical stations. Military medicine staff will manage 168 stations. The city has set up 214 stations to promptly support infirmaries as well as local medical stations which provide medical care for people with Covid-19 who are being treated and medically isolated at home", Ms. Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai informed.
The department will also maintain the supply of drugs for Covid-19-infected patients who are being treated at home. In addition to Molnupiravir, Ho Chi Minh City is also provided with Favipiravir to meet the needs of health stations. In addition, the city also uses oriental medicines to take care of the health of Covid-19 patients.
