Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính chairs a meeting on COVID-19 on Thursday in Hà Nội.— VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — The COVID-19 pandemic has been gradually controlled in Việt Nam while the number of community cases and the number of deaths have decreased.

However, the pandemic still showed complex developments in HCM City, said Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control when he chaired a meeting on Thursday in Hà Nội.

The meeting was organised to assess the implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control over the past months as well as discussing on measures to adapt safely, flexibly and effectively control the pandemic in the future.

Chính said during the fight against the pandemic, especially during the fourth wave of the pandemic, Việt Nam had learned many valuable lessons.

“We already better understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we also recognise what has been done and what has not been done to make adjustments to control the pandemic more effectively,” he said.

Chính said the pandemic prevention and control measures that Việt Nam had implemented were appropriate and effective, especially when the country was still facing many difficulties and the pandemic was still new, dangerous, rapidly evolving and unpredictable, he said.

However, Chính also pointed out some shortcomings in the pandemic prevention and control efforts.

He said the implementation of the measures to prevent and control the pandemic was not effective as expected.

The speed of conducting COVID-19 tests was still slower than the speed of the pandemic’s spread, he added.

Some localities still neglected and did not seriously implement measures to prevent and control the pandemic, he said.

Technological measures to serve pandemic prevention and control had yet to be completed.

Besides, several localities were not flexible in implementing measures to prevent and control the pandemic, while they failed to work harmoniously with relevant sectors and units, he said.

Upcoming tasks

Therefore, Chính ordered all ministries and sectors to continue strengthening vaccination for people, ensuring safety and effectiveness in order of precedence – people over 50 years old, people with underlying diseases and children.

The ministries and sectors were told to boost the transfer of technology to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, medicines, biological products and medical equipment to serve COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control in the country, he said.

The ministries and sectors had to continue supporting HCM City and neighbouring provinces and cities, including Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An, he said.

They were asked to strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of pandemic prevention and control, especially ensuring health and social security for people, he added.

Besides, the ministries and sectors needed to work closely with each other to adapt safely and flexibly to the pandemic's developments and control the virus more effectively, he said.

Gradually easing social distancing measures and restoring production and business were also important tasks, he said.

The ministries and sectors had to actively disseminate information so that people know, believe and follow the measures to prevent and control the pandemic, he said.

They were required to issue support policies for people and businesses affected by the pandemic and deploy the policies in a timely, effective and transparent manner, he said.

Especially, they should pay more attention to policies for frontline forces with timely and satisfactory rewards, he said.

The steering committee’s report at the meeting showed that Việt Nam recorded about 714,000 new cases of COVID-19 from the beginning of the fourth wave to September 22.

Some 484,000 people have recovered, accounting for 68 per cent of the total infectious cases, and 17,700 deaths have been reported.

Seventeen of 62 provinces have not recorded new cases for 14 days.

More than 35.1 million doses of vaccine have been administered, including 6.9 million people fully vaccinated nationwide so far.

During the past seven days, the country recorded 73,253 new cases, 10.6 per cent lower compared to the previous seven days; the number of deaths also decreased by 15.8 per cent.

In 23 localities applying social distancing, the number of infected cases over the past seven days decreased by 18.8 per cent compared to the previous seven days.— VNS