Prime Minister: Do not be negligent or panic in preventing and fighting Covid-19

On the afternoon of May 7, under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control held a national online conference on Covid-19 prevention and control. Comrade Pham Minh Chinh - Politburo member, Prime Minister attended and directed the conference.

Overview of Nghe An province bridge. Photo: Pham Bang

MUST RESTART THE QUICK RESPONSE SYSTEM AT ALL LEVELS

According to the report of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, the total number of positive cases in Vietnam is now 3,091, including 1,691 domestic cases. Since April 27, the number of Covid-19 infections is 121 cases.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that this is the fourth outbreak in our country. This outbreak has two more complicated points than the previous ones. Firstly, at the outbreaks in the provinces of Ha Nam, Yen Bai, Da Nang, Hai Duong and the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, branch 2, the source of infection is still unknown, meaning that there is already a pathogen in the community. Secondly, this Indian virus strain spreads quickly and is likely to be stronger and more severe.

Therefore, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, the general spirit is to be resolute, to restart the entire rapid response system at all levels, to establish community Covid teams. At the same time, we must be extremely vigilant, because the epidemic can occur in any province.

At Nghe An bridge, comrades Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee; Bui Dinh Long - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee co-chaired. Photo: Pham Bang

In the work of preventing and fighting the epidemic, we must thoroughly understand three major principles. The first principle is that no matter how the situation changes, the principled steps: Detection, isolation, containment, suppression and treatment will not change. The second principle is the new normal, according to the 5K regulations, especially masks. The third principle is the 4 on-site motto.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the management of legal immigrants has not been good in recent times. Many hotels have not strictly implemented regulations on centralized quarantine for foreign experts; after quarantine, although they are still under medical surveillance, they have been almost lax. And this is the main cause of the recent epidemic.

Faced with this situation, the Deputy Prime Minister requested that surveillance cameras be installed at civilian and military quarantine facilities and that if any facility violates the regulations, the local authorities will be severely punished. Plans and scenarios must be prepared immediately in case 30,000 people are infected, so as not to be passive. Provinces must severely punish those who do not wear masks in public.

For Nghe An, by 5:00 p.m. on May 7, the province recorded the first case of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection in the community, patient NPQ (residing in Quynh Lap commune, Hoang Mai town) after returning from the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, branch 2. Immediately after the discovery, the province applied social distancing to 5 hamlets of Quynh Lap commune, let students in the whole town stay home from school, organized disinfection spraying, and treated the environment in the entire area related to the outbreak.

Regarding the outbreak at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, branch 2, as of 11:00 a.m. on May 7, the entire province had screened 75 F1 cases and taken samples from 36 cases, currently there is 1 case, Mr. Q., with a positive result.

Regarding this patient, as of 11:00 a.m. on May 7, 91 F1 cases have been traced, 100% quarantined, and 88 samples taken for testing; 50 samples have tested negative for the first time, 38 samples are awaiting results; 902 F2 cases have been traced, 100% are required to be quarantined at home, and 395 samples have been collected for testing. The province is also implementing the approach, investigation, quarantine, and collection of samples for testing of 42 F1 cases who traveled on the same bus with patient Q. from Hanoi to Nghe An.

CHANGE THE ANTI-EPIDEMIC STATE FROM DEFENSE TO OFFENSE

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that up to this point, we are basically controlling the situation and said that a fundamental cause leading to the outbreak of this epidemic is the negligence, subjectivity, and lack of vigilance of many localities and the people. In addition, the epidemic is evolving rapidly and is increasingly unpredictable.

The Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to avoid two tendencies in preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic. These are negligence, subjectivity, loss of vigilance and panic, fear, loss of composure. At this time, we must be extremely calm, alert, clear-headed, correctly assess the situation, choose options suitable to the actual situation, in order to ensure the goal of both socio-economic development, stabilizing the situation, ensuring better epidemic prevention and overcoming consequences.

Promoting the leadership role of the Party and government, mobilizing the participation of the people, promoting all internal resources with the spirit that basic prevention is strategic, long-term, and decisive; combat is important, regular, and decisive; and the guiding ideology of fighting the epidemic is like fighting the enemy.

Shift from a defensive state to a state of harmoniously combining defense and attack, with attack as the main focus. Through strengthening measures on technology, control, monitoring, and inspection, especially strictly implementing the "5K + Vaccine" measure. Thoroughly implement the motto of action: active prevention, early detection, rapid isolation, active treatment, decisive handling, and rapid stabilization of the situation.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the conference. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

In addition, strengthen decentralization and delegation of power from the central to local levels in epidemic prevention and control work, all levels do not take on each other's responsibilities, for the health of the community, for the benefit of the nation and people. Strengthen inspection and supervision, enhance the responsibility of leaders. Praise and reward individuals and units that do well; criticize and discipline organizations and individuals who violate or lack a sense of responsibility, without showing favoritism or avoidance.

Comrade Pham Minh Chinh also requested localities to strengthen management, promote the role of people in monitoring and detecting illegal immigrants, tighten immigration management, and strictly handle cases of illegal entry and illegal residence. The guiding ideology is to strengthen the grassroots, focus on the grassroots and strictly control the grassroots and assign responsibility if the grassroots do not do well. Immediately plug the loopholes in the past regarding quarantine.

The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Health to quickly access sources to purchase vaccines and vaccinate on a large scale, prioritizing frontline subjects with high risk of infection. The Ministry of Health needs to review regulations, rules, and standards in epidemic prevention work according to risks and handling measures. Agencies, units, and localities, based on their functions, powers, and specific situations, from the standards and criteria of the Ministry of Health, proactively decide on specific measures, suitable to reality, both ensuring socio-economic development goals and ensuring effective epidemic prevention.

Hoang Mai town has locked down five villages of Quynh Lap commune to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Provinces and cities decide to apply social distancing measures according to their authority, but must ensure the scope of application is as narrow as possible, avoiding adverse socio-economic impacts as much as possible, ensuring the circulation of goods and production materials. Do not apply extreme or excessive measures. Provinces must proactively improve testing capacity, quarantine capacity, build scenarios and possible situations, and must not wait or rely on them.

Ensuring security, safety, and public safety, the highest goal is to protect people's health, developing scenarios to ensure safety for the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term. The Ministry of Education and Training proposes solutions to ensure the end of the 2020-2021 school year appropriately and effectively. Strengthening truthful, objective, and true-to-life communication about disease prevention and control work and the results achieved so that people know, feel secure, and actively participate in preventing and overcoming the consequences of the disease.

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY IN EPIDEMIC PREVENTION AND CONTROL

Speaking at the conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long - Minister of Health emphasized that we are in a very high state of alert, so we request that localities activate the entire epidemic prevention system, considering the locality as being in an epidemic, so that when it happens, there will be no confusion or surprise.

Because this outbreak is more complicated than previous outbreaks, with multiple outbreaks, multiple sources of infection, and multiple strains (with strains from the UK and India), the rate of infection is higher than previous outbreaks. Therefore, the domestic epidemic is evolving faster, more complicated, and more difficult to control than previous outbreaks, and additional outbreaks with uncontrolled sources of infection may appear.

The Military Region 4 Command conducts disinfection spraying and environmental treatment in the area with Covid-19 infection cases in Hoang Mai Town. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The Minister of Health also requested localitiesImprove capacity and proactively test to detect cases; medical facilities from central to grassroots levels must carry out epidemic prevention and control work; only facilities that meet the conditions prescribed by the Ministry of Health are allowed to receive people for quarantine.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that the quarantine of foreign experts must be strictly implemented. After quarantine, they must be handed over to their residences/workplaces, and no one must take responsibility. If businesses violate the law, they must also be held responsible and strictly handled.

Regarding testing, the Deputy Prime Minister requested that provinces that do not have laboratories must do so immediately, and train CDC staff in provinces that do not have the capacity to conclude test samples. The guiding viewpoint of the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control is to assign responsibility to individuals at each level if there are violations or lack of responsibility in Covid-19 prevention and control. And together we are determined, strive and have confidence that we will defeat the Covid-19 pandemic./.