At the press brief
On the afternoon of December 13, the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control held a press conference to provide information on the epidemic situation in the area and issues of public concern under the chairmanship of Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control Pham Duc Hai.
Chief of Office of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai said that the Department of Health has a plan to mobilize private pharmacies to give consultation to infected people.
Currently, the city has over 6,500 pharmacies in 21 districts and Thu Duc city. These pharmacies are usually located in densely populated areas.
However, not all 6,500 pharmacies across the city will provide free medicine for Covid-19 patients, but if needed, the Department of Health will designate a pharmacy in that area to support. The health authority will manage the packages of medications, said Ms. Mai.
In addition, the pharmacy is also responsible for providing over-the-counter or prescription drugs which are prescribed by doctors at mobile medical stations or networks of companion doctors.
Drug stores also supply medical equipment, biological products, rapid tests, blood oxygen measuring instruments, thermometers that have been registered for home-health care of Covid-19 patients.
Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Duong Tri Dung
The Department of Health required pharmacies to sell drugs and equipment at the right price and with quality assurance.
In addition, each pharmacy will be a volunteer to give consultation to Covid-19 patients who received home healthcare. If a patient has suspicious symptoms to buy medicine, pharmacy staff must immediately provide phone numbers, instruct them or their relatives to contact mobile medical stations and Covid-19 care teams in the community.
Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Duong Tri Dung said that today was the first day of school for ninth and twelfth graders to go back to schools in person after a long time of online learning.
Approximately 90.69 percent of students of grade 9 and 93.62 percent of twelfth graders were going back to school. Most of the students who do not participate in the direct study are infected students or students who have not returned HCMC yet.
Mr. Dung added, if a school detects infected Covid-19 cases, close contacts must undergo tests. The education sector and the health sector have coordinated to guide educational institutions. Each school has also developed its plan. If there is a case, schools will coordinate with the local health care to screen.
On the morning of December 13, the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Health set up five inspection teams to pay visits to educational institutions in districts 3, 4, 5, 10 and Go Vap. In addition, the Department of Education and Training has also established inter-department inspection teams to check the safety of epidemic prevention and control at schools.
Statistics from October 1 to now, police officers in Ho Chi Minh City have organized over 126 patrols, handling over 87,000 cases and imposing fines of over VND100 billion. Additionally, they asked 251 people to wear masks.
Regarding monitoring the entry of the Omicron variant, Ms. Mai said that the Department's functional departments are still closely monitoring entrants, especially foreigners entering via aviation and waterways.
From December 10 to now, Ho Chi Minh City has recorded 1,072 foreigners coming to Ho Chi Minh City as foreigners and all have been screened. The health sector has detected 19 cases of Covid-19. All have been taken to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases for genetic sequencing and have not yet discovered a new strain of Omicron.
