Pandemic prevention and control policies must be unified nationwide: PM

According to the PM, the COVID-19 prevention and control work is unprecedented and related polices have been implemented, and supplemented and perfected at the same time.

Based on the outcomes of this meeting, the Government and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control will make adjustments and improvements to implement safe and flexible adaptation, effectively control the pandemic, and recover and promote socio-economic development more efficiently, stated Chinh, who is head of the national steering committee.

The shift towards safe and flexible adaptation and effective pandemic control is the right direction, he said, stressing that the fourth wave of the pandemic has caused serious impacts on all aspects which requires more comprehensive, timely and effective solutions.

The Government leader requested ministries, sectors and localities to continue doing well in forecasting and understanding the pandemic situation and developments, urgently building and completing a master programme on pandemic prevention and control and the programme on socio-economic recovery and development to effectively perform two tasks of pandemic prevention and control and socio-economic recovery and development.

He also requested ministries, sectors and localities to continue to pay attention to social welfare, restore the labour supply chain, maintain political stability and social order and safety, take measures to soon reopen schools in safe places, have solutions to take care of children orphaned due to the pandemic, and step up the vaccination drive, and better treatment for COVID-19 patients.

With the presence of new and dangerous variants of SARS-CoV-2, this fourth outbreak of the pandemic has seriously affected the Vietnamese economy in a number of fields. The country's GDP only increased by 1.42 percent in the first nine months of 2021, after recording a decline of 6.17 percent in the third quarter compared to that of the same period last year. 

Income and employment are seriously affected, especially for workers in industrial zones and people who depend on services. The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2021 was 3.72 percent, and the underemployment rate in the working age was 4.39 percent, the highest since the first quarter of 2020.

However, with the great efforts, solidarity and determination of the entire Party, people and army, the pandemic has been gradually put under control, especially in hotbeds such as Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces.

(Source: VNA)