The Prime Minister requested that forces must be ready to prepare for bad situations due to Covid-19.

On the morning of February 27, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a working session of the Government Standing Committee with the National Steering Committee for the prevention of acute respiratory infections caused by the new strain of Corona virus.

Regarding the return of students to school, the Prime Minister stated that this will be considered by the Minister of Education and Training and the People's Committees of provinces and cities according to the 2019-2020 school year time frame announced by the Ministry. The Ministry of Education and Training will apply the framework in the most effective and optimal way.

Resolute isolation

After the ministries and branches spoke and concluded the meeting, the Prime Minister stated that we have had important initial successes, with all 16 positive cases cured and discharged from hospital.

The government has done everything with the highest spirit in protecting the health and lives of the people, has had the right policies, and resolutely isolated the community with positive cases. The solutions are synchronized from the central to local levels. Vietnam's solutions are highly appreciated by the world.

In the coming time, the Prime Minister requested to resolutely quarantine people from epidemic areas entering Vietnam. Forces must continue to prepare plans, to prevent bad situations from happening. Because if we let both Vietnamese and foreigners from epidemic areas enter Vietnam, the epidemic will spread to the community. That is a very taboo thing, and the lesson learned is the solution to prevent the spread in the community.

"We have shown good care of the Party, State and army for people in quarantine. We continue to create conditions for people in quarantine to live normally. If not quarantined, leading to the mentality that if you return to Vietnam, you can return to the community, you can go home to rest, this transmission will be very common in many provinces and cities. The spread will be very serious and uncontrollable" - the Prime Minister emphasized.

Therefore, the Prime Minister requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies explain to people from epidemic areas that they must be quarantined and must have a resolute attitude; advise citizens wherever they are to strictly follow the instructions of the host country. Those who have been in contact with positive people must be tested.

The Prime Minister also directed to continue not to gather in large numbers, not to organize meetings or conferences if not necessary. In particular, the Prime Minister noted that there was information about nearly 1,000 people meeting about textbooks at Muong Thanh Hotel in Thanh Hoa and stated that if true, this is something that needs to be reminded to Thanh Hoa.

Recalling Vinh Phuc's anti-epidemic lesson, the Prime Minister said that the province both fought the epidemic and effectively promoted economic activities. Economic growth in the first two months of the year not only did not decrease but also increased by over 10% over the same period.

Prepare well to break out

Regarding the epidemic situation in the coming time, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc assessed that the Covid-19 situation is complicated, with new outbreaks appearing in some countries, but we have faith that the epidemic situation will be basically controlled and progress well in the coming second quarter.The world economy will have positive developments. The US economy is optimistic, some key economies in the world, even with the pandemic, will recover and regain growth momentum.

"I say this so that ministries and branches can calculate plans and arrange forces, including labor and production materials.Therefore, from now on, in addition to resolutely preventing Covid-19 effectively, ministries, branches and localities need to have breakthrough thinking in policies and actions so that 2020 continues to be a year of economic success, social stability, and full fulfillment of the goals assigned by the Party, State and people," said the Prime Minister.

Therefore, the Prime Minister directed the State Bank of Vietnam to continue to more clearly announce monetary policies to support the economy, such as reducing interest rates and extending debt. More than ever, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Prime Minister solutions to extend, postpone, and delay tax payments, even reduce logistics fees, and extend the time to pay health insurance and social insurance to create momentum for production and business units. Any regulations under the authority of the National Assembly must be reported to the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee. In particular, it is necessary to increase spending on social security, especially support for people in epidemic areas.

It is said that there will be a Prime Minister's Directive soon to promote production and business, and there will be preparations to accelerate in the coming time, and at the same time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has been commended for sending a deputy minister to the UK to find tourism markets. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also met to find solutions to avoid breaking production chains and finding raw materials for production in March....

Proactive screening, monitoring, and isolation

Reporting at the meeting, on behalf of the Steering Committee, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that as of 9:00 a.m. on February 27, the number of Covid-19 infections outside China for the first time was greater than the number of infections in China, marking a turning point in the spread of the epidemic globally.

Currently, all continents except Antarctica have recorded Covid-19 infections with 49 countries/territories announcing cases. South Korea is currently the country with the fastest growing number of cases outside of China (1,595 cases, 12 deaths), mainly concentrated in Daegu city and North Gyeongsang region. The South Korean government has raised the alert level to the highest level.

In Vietnam, since February 13, no new cases have been recorded. The total number of suspected cases, being monitored and quarantined is 92. The total number of people in close contact and entering from epidemic areas under health monitoring is 5,474.

To proactively respond to the epidemic situation in Korea, the National Steering Committee has requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and airlines to widely announce the mandatory 14-day quarantine for people from epidemic areas in Korea entering Vietnam.

For Koreans and those who have entered Vietnam from Korea since February 11, 2020, the Ministry of Public Security directs units to update the list and place of residence, stay, send to the Party Committee, People's Committee of provinces and centrally-run cities to review, conduct medical surveillance and immediately quarantine cases detected coming from epidemic areas of Korea, or having close contact with people from epidemic areas. It is recommended that Koreans traveling in Vietnam do not continue their journey and return home soon.

For Vietnamese people living, studying and working in Korea, the Vietnamese Embassy in Korea will coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, and relevant ministries to immediately compile a list and residence of international students, workers (both legal and illegal) and married people living in Korea, and provide it to immigration and aviation authorities to proactively screen, organize monitoring, and quarantine according to regulations if they return to Vietnam.