The southern metropolis, the busiest and most populous locality in Vietnam, and is currently grappling with a fresh COVID-19 outbreak, with approximately 4,000 new cases recorded each day. The city has recently extended the Government’s social distancing order to implement more restrictive measures in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus among the community.
In a recent report submitted to the Government, the Ministry of Health (MoH) set a target of bringing the latest outbreak in HCM City under control before September 15, and the proposal was later approved by the Government.
MoH Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan explained that the deadline has been set based on the infection rate in COVID-19 hotspots throughout southern Vietnam, especially in HCM City.
The incidence of COVID-19 infections in the southern city is showing signs of leveling off after reaching its peak over the past week, said Thuan.
He suggested that extensive testing should be ramped up in an effort to localise and separate F0 cases from the community and expand the ‘green’ or safety zones.
With restrictive measures currently in place, there is hope that the ongoing outbreak will be brought under control shortly, he said.
Meanwhile, during an online Cabinet meeting on August 11, HCM City Mayor Nguyen Thanh Phong admitted that the fresh outbreak is dealing a heavy blow to local business and production activities.
Whether or not the economy is able to get through the ongoing crisis largely depends on the ability to control the pandemic locally, the vaccination campaign, the resilience of local firms, and global developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
He therefore vowed that the city will continue to strictly implement social distancing measures, ‘greenise’ risk and high-risk areas, along with speeding up vaccinations to contain the spread of the virus ahead of September 15.
To meet this deadline, according to National Assembly deputy Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong, the southern metropolis should implement a number of synchronous solutions relating to isolation, zoning, and vaccination.
HCM City has no choice but to isolate epidemic hotspots, separate epidemic areas from safe green zones, gradually expand green zones, and strictly implement social distancing measures in order to meet the September 15 deadline, said Prof. Cuong.
He also shared other experts’ views that the city should focus on speeding up the vaccination process and commodity circulation as a way of meeting local people’s consumption demands for food, and maintaining production in key economic regions.
