Nghe An: Expanding green zones, gradually returning to the new normal state

On the afternoon of September 8, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center held an online meeting with 8 localities: Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Que Phong, Yen Thanh to listen to and give opinions on the work of preventing and controlling the Covid-19 epidemic in the past time and deploying tasks in the coming time.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Steering Committee, Commander of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center chaired the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

821 CASES RECOVERED

As of 8:00 a.m. on September 8, Nghe An province recorded 1,752 Covid-19 cases in 21 localities. Of which, Vinh City is still in the very high-risk group (red zone) with 624 infected cases, of which 519 cases have been reported since August 14, including more than 310 cases in the community.

Localities in the high-risk group (orange zone) include: Cua Lo Town, Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Que Phong. The medium-risk group (yellow zone) includes: Do Luong, Yen Thanh and the remaining localities in the new normal group (green zone).

Up to this point, there are still 820 patients being treated, of which 44 patients need oxygen, 15 patients are in serious condition, of which 7 are in critical condition. The whole province has also vaccinated 136,012 people (about 3.88% of the population), of which 68,148 people have received 2 doses (about 1.94% of the population).

The meeting was held online to 8 local bridges: Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Que Phong, Yen Thanh. Photo: Pham Bang

Comrade Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of the Department of Health said that after 4 large-scale testing sessions, Vinh city has detected 114 F0 cases, but there is still a potential risk of F0 cases in the community. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to conduct a 5th large-scale test in the blocks and communes of Vinh Tan, Le Loi and Hung Chinh wards. If necessary, a 6th test can be carried out to avoid missing infected cases and separate all F0 cases from the community. In addition, strictly implement home quarantine management and strengthen communication work.

For high-risk areas: Cua Lo Town has conducted large-scale testing twice and Nghi Thuy Ward is still very complicated. Therefore, it is necessary to continue community testing here. In Nghi Loc District, due to the presence of many industrial parks near Vinh City, it is necessary to strengthen epidemic prevention and control measures at factories and enterprises. In Dien Chau District, it is necessary to strictly manage and rectify concentrated quarantine areas in the communes of Dien Hong, Dien Yen, and Dien Nguyen.

Nam Dan district needs to closely monitor the situation due to the appearance of 4 positive cases in Xuan Hoa commune, and may have to conduct 1-2 tests in this commune. Hung Nguyen district needs to closely monitor developments and ensure the implementation of enhanced measures compared to Directive 16 in 2 hamlets of Hung Thinh commune.

For Que Phong district, due to the appearance of community infections in Tri Le and Muong Noc communes, it is necessary to continue to investigate, trace, isolate, and take samples for testing of related cases. Yen Thanh district has had no community infections for 10 days, so it is necessary to strictly control cases traveling to and from epidemic areas.

Comrade Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of the Department of Health, Deputy Commander of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center spoke. Photo: Pham Bang

At the meeting, localities reported on the work of epidemic prevention and control in the past time and proposed solutions for the coming time. Leaders of departments, branches, and Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee also gave opinions on the issue of goods supply; epidemic prevention and control in industrial parks and enterprises; population movement management; transportation organization; strengthening community Covid-19 teams...

POSITIVE CHANGE

Concluding the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Steering Committee, Commander of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center assessed that in the past time, especially during the peak period from August 14 to now, the work of preventing and controlling the epidemic has had many changes and achieved positive results. That is reflected in the rapid decrease in the number of infections after about 3 weeks of drastic and synchronous implementation of measures, especially reducing the number of cases in the community. In addition, the number of recovered cases has also increased rapidly, by 8:00 a.m. on September 8, there were 821 recovered cases.

The positive developments of the epidemic are also reflected in the fact that the whole province has 14 localities implementing Directive 16, 7 localities implementing Directive 15, and Vinh City implementing more than Directive 16. Up to now, only 7 localities are implementing Directive 16, 3 localities are implementing Directive 15 and 11 localities are implementing Directive 19, returning to the new normal state.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Steering Committee, Commander of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center concluded the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

To achieve that result, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee highly appreciated the drastic, strong, and synchronous participation of localities, taking advantage of the social distancing period to conduct screening tests, separate F0 from the community, and send F1 to centralized quarantine. The frontline forces have been active, dedicated, and responsible in implementing the work of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic in the area. Especially the role and responsibility of the Department of Health and the individual Director of the Department of Health.

In addition, the police force has actively organized and controlled social distancing in the area and organized good contact tracing. The military, transport and industry sectors have also performed their duties well. Localities have called for the consensus, support and compliance of the people in the work of epidemic prevention and control, especially strict compliance with social distancing measures. Vaccination work has been accelerated, although the amount of vaccine distributed is still limited.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also said that the epidemic situation in the whole country is still complicated, and there is still a potential risk of infection in localities in the province. Production and business activities of enterprises and people's lives have encountered many difficulties after a long period of social distancing; the province's resources are still limited. There is still a lack of awareness among some people, and the responsibility of some local authorities is not high.

Director of the Department of Health Duong Dinh Chinh directs epidemic prevention and control work in Que Phong district. Photo: Archive

STEP BY STEP RETURN TO NEW NORMAL

To maintain the achievements, expand green areas, and gradually bring localities back to a new normal state, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung requested localities to seriously and drastically implement epidemic prevention and control measures according to the direction of the Central Government, the Government, the Prime Minister, especially Official Dispatch 1102/CD-TTg dated August 23, 2021 of the Prime Minister with the viewpoint: Each ward, commune, and town is a "fortress", each citizen is a "soldier" with 5 major contents.

"In the coming time, epidemic prevention and control work must gradually shift from passive to proactive; prevent and control the epidemic early and from afar. Localities must review epidemic prevention and control scenarios in accordance with the new situation, new conditions, and reality of the localities. In particular, it is necessary to strictly manage the area, manage population movement, and vehicles entering and leaving the area. Organize households to sign a commitment to strictly comply with Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control measures."

Chairman of Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung

As for localities implementing Directive 16, take advantage of the social distancing period to coordinate with the health sector to organize screening tests and separate F0 from the community in high-risk areas. Organize to review and build more centralized quarantine areas so that when situations arise, there will be quarantine points suitable to the requirements of each locality.

The health sector will organize the construction of more field hospitals, paying special attention to emergency centers for seriously ill patients. Organize vaccinations to ensure safety, science, and security and order at vaccination sites. Localities that do not organize vaccinations well will consider adjusting the amount of vaccine allocation. In vaccinations, priority areas, priority subjects, densely populated areas, areas with a large number of workers, and areas with a large concentration of subjects at high risk of infection for the community, such as industrial parks and wholesale markets, will be selected.

The head of the Covid-19 Prevention and Control Center also asked localities to prepare conditions for the transition to the new normal state, with measures to both effectively prevent the epidemic and return activities to the new normal state. To do so, localities must develop specific plans, suitable for each locality and each subject.

For example, production and business establishments must have measures to restore production, suitable to the epidemic conditions of each locality, ensuring effective epidemic prevention. Or markets cannot be closed forever, there must be measures to open appropriately by regulating requirements for traders, time and place of gathering goods, dividing traffic, controlling the number of people entering/exiting...

Medical staff vaccinate traders and market managers. Photo: Quang An

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung also requested that localities pay attention to people's daily activities and travel, with the view of ensuring epidemic prevention and control but creating favorable conditions for people, not being rigid. The Provincial People's Committee is building and preparing to put into operation the Covid-19 Information Portal with many functions, including software for people to register for travel during the epidemic prevention and control period. In addition, creating conditions for people to consume agricultural products.

Localities must also pay attention to promoting propaganda work in many forms, suitable for each locality, to raise warnings about the danger and spread of the Covid-19 epidemic. From there, raise people's awareness of complying with epidemic prevention and control measures. To ensure security and social order and safety, the Public Security sector strictly manages the movement of people and vehicles between localities and epidemic areas across the country, and strictly handles violations. The Transport sector organizes guidance and circulation of vehicles, creates conditions for the consumption of goods, and provides raw materials and equipment for production and business.

The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs continues to effectively implement Resolution 68/NQ-CP of the Government on policies to support employees and employers facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic; research solutions to create jobs for people who have just returned to their hometowns. The Department of Education and Training coordinates with localities to organize teaching in accordance with the conditions of each locality. The Management Board of the Southeast Economic Zone guides, manages, and inspects epidemic prevention and control work in industrial parks, ensuring safe production conditions; and removing difficulties for businesses. The Department of Finance reviews resources to ensure funding for epidemic prevention and control work.

The Commander of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center agreed with the proposal of the Health sector: 6 localities including Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau continue to implement Directive 16 of the Prime Minister. When the epidemic situation develops positively, the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center will report to the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee for comments to make appropriate adjustments.

For Yen Thanh district, switch to implementing Prime Minister's Directive 15 from 0:00 on September 9, 2021. For Que Phong district, switch to implementing Prime Minister's Directive 15 from 0:00 on September 9, 2021. Particularly, Tri Le and Muong Noc communes will implement Prime Minister's Directive 16./.