Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính speaks at the meeting. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Saturday warned businesses not to be hasty in resuming activities just because the battle against the COVID-19 has produced initial positive signs.

The PM made the order while chairing a meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to review the work in the past week and outlined measures and tasks in line with the current pandemic situation.

According to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, new coronavirus infections in the community in the past week declined compared to the previous week in some localities with large numbers of cases, including Đà Nẵng (down 60 per cent), Bình Dương (27 per cent), and Long An (3 per cent).

The daily number of deaths nationwide has also fallen by 30 per cent on average, with HCM City down 30 per cent, Đồng Nai 50 per cent, Long An 30 per cent, and Tiền Giang 70 per cent.

Among the 23 provinces and cities that are applying social distancing and stronger measures, eight have gained good control of the pandemic while three others, HCM City, Bình Dương, and Kiên Giang, still need to drastically carry out anti-COVID-19 measures to bring the outbreaks under control, the steering committee noted.

However, despite encouraging improvements, there remain certain shortcomings, it pointed out, elaborating that social distancing in some places has yet to be enforced seriously enough, the implementation of activities to ensure social security is still slower than expected, goods supplies remain unstable, and some localities have been impatient to reopen and ease restrictions despite a lack of specific plans.

PM Chính, who is also Chairman of the national steering committee, asked ministries, sectors, and localities to avoid negligence after gaining good initial results and practising social distancing for a long period of time, and to steer clear of hastiness in resuming production and business activities.

He ordered continuing efforts to ensure social security, assessing the implementation of the Government’s Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP on some support policies for pandemic-hit workers and employers, further encouraging private resources to help guarantee social security, and enhancing public - private partnership in the COVID-19 combat.

The Government leader also asked for stronger application of information technology to the pandemic fight.

He told the Ministry of Health to soon complete an overall strategy for the COVID-19 prevention and control in the new context, which should focus on vaccination, testing, and treatment, and to improve the response capacity so that the country can return to the “new normal” in 2022.

The ministry was tasked with building guidance for easing restrictions and resuming activities step by step and under control. It was also requested to continually making assessment of the situation so as to make timely and appropriate adjustments of the reopening process to ensure safety. —VNS