Party General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng (centre) at a meeting of the Politburo on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Party General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng chaired the Politburo’s meeting on the COVID-19 battle on Friday, saying over-confidence or complacency must be avoided as the pandemic’s developments remained complex and unpredictable.

The meeting in Hà Nội was attended by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân, other Politburo members, secretaries of the Party Central Committee, members of the national steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, and officials of ministries, sectors and central agencies.

A report at the meeting showed there had been more than 230,000 COVID-19 cases reported worldwide, including over 9,000 deaths, in nearly 180 countries and territories. Việt Nam had so far recorded 87 infected patients, including 16 who had fully recovered and no deaths, while one has tested negative three times.

The Politburo highly valued the work done so far in COVID-19 prevention and control, noting that the country had kept control of the situation and the inflow of people coming from coronavirus-hit areas, organised timely and effective quarantine, detected infections early, and successfully treated 16 patients. Besides, Vietnamese scientists had gained successes in producing SARS-CoV-2 test kits.

Applauding the accomplishments, Trọng highlighted the timely leadership and direction offered in the fight against the disease, along with the engagement of the whole political system and public.

However, the pandemic was forecast to remain complex and unpredictable and severely affect people’s health and socio-economic development, he said, urging the country not to be complacent about disease prevention work. He laid stress on measures to localise outbreaks and the need to envision the worst scenario in order to prepare the best response plan.

The leader added that there were many other tasks that needed to be completed aside from combating the disease, noting the pandemic’s impacts on the economy, society, security – defence, diplomacy and tourism.

He underlined that Việt Nam was holding the ASEAN Chairmanship this year and a two-year non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council, so important international events had been scheduled, along with all-level Party congresses.

Therefore, it was necessary to work on long-term solutions, Trọng said, calling for mobilising the strength of the whole political system and great national unity to stamp out the pandemic in the spirit of “fighting the epidemic like fighting an enemy”.

The top leader also shared other officials’ views that apart from dealing with the disease, policies and measures were also needed to minimise the epidemic’s negative impacts on socio-economic targets by recovering production, business and tourism, and ensuring a normal life for residents in affected areas.

The challenges caused by COVID-19 also provided a chance for economic and business restructuring, he said. In the short term, public investment should be promoted to stimulate demand; investment in agriculture and food production increased to ensure food and social security; and difficulties facing businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, removed.

Trọng also noted that dealing with the challenges presented by the outbreak might serve as a benchmark to rate the performance of officials picked as candidates for membership of local executive committees. — VNS