Sài Gòn Hi-Tech Park in HCM City. Secretary of HCM City Party Committee Nguyễn Văn Nên has told the park to place pandemic prevention and protection of workers’ health as its top priority. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Secretary of HCM City Party Committee Nguyễn Văn Nên has ordered the Sài Gòn Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) Management Board to place pandemic prevention and protection of workers’ heath as its top priority under the “new normal”.

Nên, who spoke during a visit to a quarantine facility set up within SHTP, urged the park to strictly comply with pandemic prevention measures while ensuring industrial production value.

“Taking care of workers’ health is as important as promoting investment activities,” he said, adding that it must also ensure social security and social housing for workers.

Nên spoke highly of the management board for applying hi-tech in managing workers’ data, which is connected with the city’s data on the outbreak.

When a COVID case is detected, action must be taken immediately, but it must also minimise the impact on production of the whole factory.

Under the new guidelines for pandemic prevention from the health sector, factories are not required to shut down when a worker tests positive, and only need to suspend operations at the site where the patient worked.

“It is paramount to speed up vaccination coverage for workers,” he said.

SHTP last week set up a 200-bed medical facility to quarantine and treat people who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

Nguyễn Anh Thi, head of park management, said the facility is run by medical staff from Bắc Mỹ General Hospital and the Thủ Đức City Health Centre.

Businesses pay VNĐ120,000 ($5) daily for meals for workers who are quarantined and treated.

Two other similar facilities are expected to be established at the Đông Nam Industrial Park in Củ Chi District and Linh Trung 2 Export Processing Zone in Thủ Đức City.

Thi said businesses in the park are expected to resume production to a 100 per cent level by the end of the month.

The park plans to take the approach of “Vaccines, 5K, Drugs and Technology” in pandemic prevention.

It will work with the Department of Health and the People’s Committee of Thủ Đức City to speed up vaccinations for employees.

It will also inspect pandemic prevention criteria of enterprises according to the Ministry of Health regulations. Any violations will be handled strictly.

SHTP has more than 45,000 employees, with 38,438 residing in HCM City. Its export and import value was US$28.98 billion in the first 10 months of the year, down 7.46 per cent year-on-year. 

It has 164 projects with a total investment of $8.4 billion, which is expected to reach $8.6 billion by the end of the year, according to Thi.

By 2025, SHTP aims to become a key contributor to the city’s export turnover, reaching export value of about $30 billion. 

The Management Board granted one domestic investment certificate worth more than VNĐ162 billion in the first 10 months. Three FDI projects were approved to increase investment by a total of $784 million, and one Vietnamese project by VNĐ6.6 billion. 

According to the HCM City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority (HEPZA), as many as 1,355 businesses, or 96 per cent of tenants in industrial parks and export processing zones, have resumed operations since the lockdown was lifted on October 1.

Almost all their workers are fully vaccinated or have recovered from the disease, according to HEPZA.

Some 50 COVID cases are reported daily at factories in IPs and EPZs, accounting for 0.02 per cent of labourers.

Though periodic testing of workers is not mandatory, businesses give tests once a week to quickly detect infections and quarantine patients. — VNS