Localities strengthen measures to prevent Covid-19 outbreak

On Wednesday afternoon (February 26), the Hanoi Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Combat convened to discuss disease prevention and control measures.

Chairman of the capital city's People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung stated that against the complicated developments of the epidemic, Hanoi is focusing on strengthening communications for local people, tourists entering Vietnam and foreigners in the country so that they cooperate and voluntarily comply with measures related to disease control issues.

With cases coming back from the epidemic areas, the city will carry out the separation and isolation right at Noi Bai Airport. For those returning from the epidemic areas before February 19, the city authorities have requested localities to intensify communication and timely detection to encourage them to carry out self-isolation at home.

Localities and functional agencies in Hanoi were asked to be transparent with information and travel history of people returning from epidemic areas to proactively improve the effectiveness of epidemic prevention and control.

On the same day, the Hanoi Department of Health said that it has sent an urgent dispatch to Noi Bai International Airport and Hanoi's districts and towns to apply the medical declaration and isolation for entries from or through the Republic of Korea (RoK).

* The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has sent a dispatch to the local Departments of Education and Training and educational institutions on the implementation of measures to prevent and control Covid-19 in schools. Accordingly, in order to prepare to welcome students to return to school after a prolonged break, educational institutions were asked to carry out cleaning and disinfecting in accordance with the guidance from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and professional agencies, in addition to preparing disinfectants or soap at convenient locations and developing an education plan suitable to the actual conditions and the adjusted time-frame plan of the current school year.

* On the same day, the Department of Health of Thanh Hoa Province said that the locality so far had one confirmed case who had recovered and there were 20 people suspected of being infected with Covid-19 but all had negative test results. Thanh Hoa currently has six people in compulsory isolation at health facilities, while 227 workers returning from the epidemic areas are in isolation at home and eight foreigners are in self-quarantine at their enterprises.

* On February 26, the Vietnam Petroleum Institute (VPI) under the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group has cooperated with HQGANO JSC to commercially produce VPI-Gel antibacterial dry hand sanitiser (capable of killing up to 99.99% of bacteria), helping ease the shortage of dry hand sanitiser amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. The first batch of the product will be offered to the market in early March. VPI and HQGANO have offered incentive policy in price support for individuals, charities, agencies, schools and industrial parks purchasing the product in high demand.

* On Wednesday morning, the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Health to direct Khanh Hoa International Quarantine Centre to apply the medical declaration in accordance with the guidance from the MoH. The provincial police are in charge of coordinating with the concerned departments and agencies to firmly grasp the number of foreigners who are traveling, working or living in the province, especially Korean tourists, while regularly reviewing the number of visitors from the RoK that have arrived in Khanh Hoa since February 9 in order to perform medical surveillance and monitoring.

* On February 26, Dak Nong Province Police, in collaboration with the province's Steering Committee on Voluntary Blood Donation, organised a voluntary blood donation campaign in response to the 2020 Red Spring Festival and the Covid-19 fight. The event attracted more than 700 volunteers from the Dak Nong Provincial Police, who donated 580 blood units.

* A Korean man, who died near Bac Ninh Province's General Hospital on February 25, tested negative for Covid-19, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Information and Communication Vu Huy Phuong confirmed one day later.

The deceased, named Jung Jin-yong, was born in 1976 and entered Vietnam on January 28. He lived temporarily in a hotel in Bac Ninh City and worked at STN Vina Company at Que Vo District's Viet Hung Industrial Park.

On February 7, he was examined at the provincial General Hospital and diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetes sufferer. At around 4pm on February 25, the patient returned to the hospital for examination, during which he showed no symptoms of fever and breathing difficulties. However, he left the hospital without informing doctors.

At 5pm the same day, he was found unconscious at a crossroad, about 100m away from the hospital. When being hospitalised, he stopped breathing and suffered cardiac arrest. His blood glucose level was very high (27.9 mmol/l). The provincial investigation police agency is investigating the case.

* On Thursday morning, the Covid-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee of Ca Mau Province said that the local authorities conducted quarantine for two Vietnamese citizens who have returned from the RoK's Deagu City and North Gyeongsang Province - the epicentres of the coronavirus outbreak in the East Asian nation.

At the time of entering isolation, both of them have normal health, without manifestation of fever, cough or shortness of breath. 12 other people who have had close contact with the duo are also in isolation at home.

Up until now, Ca Mau has not recorded any cases of Covid-19 infection yet. Sanitation, disinfection and sterilisation work is conducted urgently in order to create the best conditions for welcoming students back to school in early March.

* According to information from the MoH's disease surveillance system, up to 10 am on February 27, 82,147 cases of Covid-19 infection have been recorded worldwide in 43 countries and territories, including 2,801 deaths. The number of infected people is still mostly concentrated in China with 78,497 cases. Outside of China, on February 26, a rapid increase in the number of infected cases was recorded in the RoK, Italy and Iran.

In Vietnam, there have been no new cases reported over the last 14 days. All 16 infected cases have recovered and discharged from the hospital. Currently, there are still 92 suspected cases are being monitored in quarantine, while 5,474 people who have had close contact or have returned from the epidemic areas are under health surveillance.

(Source: NDO)