Firmly defend the people's hearts in the fight against the epidemic

The weather is scorching hot, but for the past few days, Mr. Nguyen Van Phu - Head of the Association of the Elderly in Kim Khanh hamlet, Nghi An commune, has been traveling back and forth between his house and the checkpoint in Hoa Hop hamlet to perform his duty. Despite his advanced age, not being required to participate in the checkpoint and not having a checkpoint in his hamlet, when the city implemented social distancing according to Directive 16, Mr. Phu, along with a number of others, volunteered to "go to the front line", supporting other forces to be on duty at checkpoints in other hamlets.

Despite the heat, when wearing the red armband of the Epidemic Prevention Committee, Mr. Phu and everyone worked with enthusiasm and responsibility; absolutely not allowing outsiders to enter or people in the city's quarantine area to go out without permission.

Nghi An Commune currently has 9 checkpoints, including 7 checkpoints on hamlet roads and 2 city checkpoints on 2 main roads. Photo: Thanh Trung

Nghi An commune has 13 hamlets, bordering Nghi Phong and Nghi Truong communes of Nghi Loc district. Although there have been no positive cases of Covid-19 recorded in the area, as a suburban commune bordering Nghi Loc district through many village roads and alleys, the commune has established 7 checkpoints in hamlets and 2 city checkpoints on major roads.

In recent days, members of the Fatherland Front, the Elderly Association, the Youth Union, and the Women's Union in the hamlets of Nghi An commune have taken turns to be present at the front lines to participate in the prevention and control of the epidemic. While men and young people take turns to participate in the quarantine checkpoints, the Youth Union members make anti-droplet glasses, and women participate in cooking rice, mixing cold drinks, and preparing late-night meals for the night-shift forces at the checkpoints.

People support checkpoints in Nghi An commune. Photo: Thanh Trung

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Council, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of Nghi An Commune said: The difficulty of Nghi An Commune is that there are too many checkpoints on the border roads, especially National Highway 46 and Nghi Duc - Nghi Thiet route with a lot of traffic. Besides, in the commune, there are many households going to wholesale markets to trade vegetables and fruits. Therefore, the risk of disease infiltration is very high.

Faced with that reality, the Commune Steering Committee determined that it was necessary to promote the strength of the people to improve the effectiveness of epidemic prevention. The commune established a hamlet-level anti-epidemic steering committee with the core roles of the secretary, hamlet chief and branch heads. The enthusiasm of the hamlet cadres immediately brought about results. People were warned about the risks of epidemics when going to the market and places with F0 in the city. In particular, when Vinh city discovered an outbreak at Vinh wholesale market, on the night of June 25, Nghi An commune immediately mobilized people who had gone to the wholesale market to buy and sell vegetables and fruits to get tested. To date, all 929 rapid test samples and 916 PCR test samples in Nghi An commune are giving negative results.

Taking samples for testing from people in Nghi An commune who had scheduled to go to the wholesale market. Photo: Thanh Trung

Also with the motto of relying on the people to fight the epidemic, in a short time, the steering committee of Nghi An hamlet and commune has traced and managed 12 F1 (quarantined at the commune health station), more than 220 F2 and many people at risk; the checkpoints have detected and recorded 21 cases of intentionally crossing the checkpoint or going out without reason. The commune also received 2 students from Vinh University of Medicine and 6 teachers to strengthen the fight against the epidemic. People in the commune have supported 84 million VND in cash and many other necessities such as hundreds of meals, drinks, fresh milk, masks, antiseptic water and 2 containers for the frontline forces to stay and fight the epidemic...

Mr. Chu Van Mai - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control in Nghi An Commune affirmed that reality shows that in the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, in addition to the serious and drastic participation of Party committees and authorities from the commune to the hamlet, the awareness, sense of responsibility, self-awareness and solidarity of the people are decisive factors to successfully implement solutions to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic.