Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính visiting the Thị Nghè Protection Center for Disabled Orphans in HCM City on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — HCM City has made important contributions to COVID-19 prevention and control through changes in mindset, approach and decisive pilot steps that have made the city safe again, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính said during a visit to the city on Monday.

Visiting the municipal Department of Health on the occasion of the upcoming Tết (Lunar New Year), the government leader hailed the hard work of the city's health sector during the city's fight against the pandemic in the context of the highly contagious Delta variant and a shortage of vaccines and treatment drugs. 

He said in such difficult conditions, many "unprecedented" policies to rein in the pandemic and support people had been built, promulgated, and implemented on an unprecedented scale.

He noted that HCM City was also the first locality to launch the vaccination drive, contributing to turning Việt Nam from a country with a very low vaccination rate into one of the six countries with the highest vaccination coverage rate in the world.

To date, the city has reopened its doors and proactively implemented the policy of safe and flexible adaptation to and effective control of the pandemic.

In 2022, there would be certainly more difficulties and challenges than opportunities and advantages, as the pandemic was still likely to develop complicatedly with new variants, the PM said. He requested HCM City to remain vigilant to effectively implement the programme on pandemic prevention and control for 2022-2023, and the socio-economic recovery and development plans.

He also urged quicker vaccination for all people, with the focus on children aged 12-17 so as to reopen schools after Tết, and asked the health sector to speed up digital transformation and improve the quality of health care.

On the same day, PM Chính visited the Thị Nghè Protection Center for Disabled Orphans which is taking care of nearly 250 disabled and orphaned children.

The care for disabled and orphaned children must be both material and spiritual, he stressed, asking the centre’s staff to take care of children with all their heart. —VNS