People in Bạch Mai Ward, Hà Nội's Hai Bà Trưng District are screened before injection on Thursday morning. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has requested localities under social distancing measures to complete testing of the entire population by September 15 to eliminate the sources of COVID-19 infection from the community. 

The PM on Wednesday sent an urgent dispatch to ask the localities' leaders to quickly organise testing for people in very high and high-risk areas every two or three days, and residents in low-risk areas at least once.

Localities that do not apply social distancing continue to carry out testing according to the official dispatch dated September 2 of the Ministry of Health.

Localities implementing social distancing under Directive No 16 must immediately set up mobile medical stations. Other provinces also need to prepare mobile medical stations in communes, wards and townships to be ready for the occurrence of infections in the community.

Inoculation also needs to be done as soon as possible when the vaccine is allocated for localities.

Leaders of provinces, cities and districts were required to strengthen inspection and supervision of communes, wards and townships to promptly detect and overcome shortcomings and weaknesses in pandemic prevention work.

More than 3,000 medical workers from 11 provinces support Hà Nội

More than 3,000 medical workers from 11 provinces are heading to Hà Nội to support the city in its citywide testing and vaccination campaign, said director of the city’s Health Department Trần Thị Nhị Hà.

The city planned to provide all citizens aged over 18 the first vaccine shot and eligible people their second jab by the middle of this month. 

From September 6 to September 12, health workers have been conducting mass testing for all residents in the city to "filter out" COVID-19 cases from the community.

The Ministry of Health decided to allocate Hà Nội 4.3 million COVID-19 vaccines with one million doses of Vero Cell given to the city by September 9.

The city’s health official said that besides the vaccines allocated to the city, about one million doses of vaccines were given to central hospitals and medical facilities based in the city.

By Wednesday, Hà Nội administered nearly 2.89 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with more than 2.57 million people getting their first jab and 317,777 people fully vaccinated.

If the number of vaccines doses administered by central hospitals and medical facilities is counted for Hà Nội, the city has a total of about 3.78 million administered doses. Thus, about 57 per cent of the city’s population aged from 18 years old have been vaccinated.

Hà said that to carry out the massive testing and vaccination drive within more than a week, the city called for the participation of all health workers from public/private sectors, central medical facilities and especially those from neighbouring localities.

The city added 300 vaccination facilities, bringing the total vaccination facilities in the city to 1,500.

“The massive testing and vaccination campaign in a short time aims to help Hà Nội expand COVID-19-free areas, so people there could soon get to a new normal stage,” she said.

Following the Prime Minister’s call for support to Hà Nội, seven provinces - Bắc Giang, Bắc Ninh, Hưng Yên, Hà Nam, Vĩnh Phúc, Hòa Bình and Thái Nguyên decided to send medical workers to the capital city. Meanwhile, Hà Nội asked for support from other four provinces of Hải Dương, Phú Thọ, Quảng Ninh and Hải Phòng.

According to the city’s plan on mass testing, Hà Nội’s health workers would conduct tests and vaccinations in 15 districts that are Red Zones with a high risk of infections. Medical workers from other provinces would help to conduct tests and vaccination in 15 districts with less risk of infections.

From April 29 to September 8, the capital city has logged a total of 3,623 COVID-19 infections, including 1,571 local ones. — VNS