Chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee Chu Ngọc Anh gives instructions at the meeting. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Schools in Hà Nội will rehearse welcoming back seventh graders and above before the Tết holiday.

The rehearsal follows a request from the chairman of the municipal people’s committee Chu Ngọc Anh.

Anh made the request in an online meeting of the Hà Nội Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control with districts in the capital city on Wednesday.

Schools will also prepare plans in case new COVID-19 cases are detected in educational settings.

Currently, only ninth and twelfth grades in localities in areas considered at low risks of COVID-19 are learning offline.

Director of Hà Nội’s Department for Education and Training Trần Thế Cương during a Government meeting the same day said 99.6 per cent of teachers in the city have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

97 per cent of high-school students have been fully vaccinated, as 99.5 per cent of secondary high school students have got at least one dose of vaccine, 97.3 per cent fully vaccinated.

Cương said that, like HCM City, Hà Nội currently lacks a large number of school medical staff.

The city plans to invite retired medical staff to return to take up medical positions in schools.

It has also asked communes and wards to provide medical staff for schools, but still the insufficiency of medical staff will be a huge challenge when schools reopen. 

Outbreak scenarios

Nguyễn Văn Phong, deputy secretary of the Hà Nội Party Committee, assessed that the pandemic situation recently was basically controlled. But, forecasting that the pandemic situation could continue to be complicated, Phong suggested that district leaders should closely follow the actual situation to have proper direction.

Phong asked localities to develop a very specific scenario during the Tết holiday, avoid missing COVID-19 patients and ensure they do not lack medicines. The districts must review their forces and co-ordinate with the health sector and, if necessary, assign students from universities and colleges to supplement during the holiday.

Phong requested departments to focus on resolving difficulties for medical facilities in treating COVID-19 patients.

Speaking at the meeting, Chairman Anh asked departments to closely work with each other, supervise the situation and data related to serious COVID-19 patients, and list supportive teams to help patients treated at home.

Anh asked districts to supplement mobile medical teams, supply enough medicines for COVID-19 patients treating at home and ensure everyone received a vaccination.

Departments should also have plans to improve the pandemic prevention system from the grassroots level and assign more workers for populous areas. — VNS