Speaking at the online conference on Covid-19 prevention in HCMC organized by the steering board of Covid-19 prevention yesterday, Director of Department of Health Professor Nguyen Tan Binh said that around 1,000 passengers entering the city at airport and train station a day must undergo Covid-19 testing.
Moreover, the sector will continue testing nearly 7,000 workers in industrial parks and export processing zones as well as approximately 3,000 at-risk people in the community in District 2.
He added that the city has recorded 54 Covid-19 cases confirmed by the Ministry of Health. Forty-six have been discharged from medical facilities while eight are being treated in hospitals.
When it came to the Covid-19 British patient No.22, who has recently tested positive again for the virus after being treated and recovered in the Central City of Da Nang, the health sector in HCMC has carried out tests on 41 people who closely contacted him at Hotel Ibis in Hong Ha Street in Tan Binh District ; of them, 14 were negative and under quarantine.
Moreover, the city has tracked 17 passengers who sat near him in the flight.
Yesterday, the city had two suspected cases who were sampled and waiting for test results. 97 people are living in centralized quarantine areas while 155 others are self-isolating at homes or accommodation.
The health sector has tested 1,294 workers at their dormitories in Tan Thuan industrial park ; all were negative.
Professor Binh said the city Center for Disease Control has liaised with local administrations and medical centers to inspect companies’ Covid-19 prevention tasks. Apart from that, the Center for Disease Control and People’s Committee in Binh Tan District yesterday instructed Pouyuen Company to implement preventive measures when it re-operated.
Following city Party Chief Nguyen Thien Nhan's request that each state competent agency to work with related agencies on its own safety requirements and to issue no later than April 30 for implementation in May, the Department of Health will work with education sector, tourism sector, traffic sector, and industry and trade sector on safety requirements to proactively fight against the disease.
The safety requirements are expected to help socioeconomic activities normalize.
Party Chief Nhan asked that the city must continue strictly implementing the Prime Minister’ direction No. 16/CT-TTg on maintaining safe production.
He hailed the health sector for having expanded tests on at-risk people in the community. The municipal health sector has done well as it tested all passengers coming into the city from airport and train station. Testing will be a long-term measure, as Mr. Nhan said, especially when HCMC receives international visitors.
He proposed the city People’s Committee to instruct the Department of Communications and Information to work with mobile network operators and the Ministry of Communications and Information to pilot screening crowds in districts 1 and 5.
Moreover, learning from the lesson of monitoring infection risk at giant companies, he proposed the committee to order the education sector and the health sector to build a set of criteria on safe schools to Covid-19. The tourism sector and the industry and trade sector should follow suit drawing their set of safety criteria in restaurants, supermarkets and markets.
Under the city Party Chief’s direction, the city People’s Committee has required the education sector and the health sector to work on Covid-19 safety requirements in schools to issue before April 30. The education sector must submit the plan to extend school closures to the People's Committee.
At the conference, Deputy Chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem affirmed the city will strictly implement the Prime Minister’s direction No.16/CT-TTg till April 22. Local administrations in districts and wards must disseminate 12 dos and don’ts to resident as well as handle violators.
He called for people to raise their awareness of Covid-19 and preventive measures such as not going out, not gathering in public places and keeping proper distance from others to contain the pandemic spread.
The Department of Transport was asked to continue coodirnating with Mai Linh taxi company to take patients home gratis.
