Chairman of the Hà Nội People's Committee Chu Ngọc Anh (standing) speaks at a meeting with local authorities on COVID-19 prevention on Sunday. Photo qdnd.vn

HÀ NỘI — Chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee Chu Ngọc Anh has warned the capital city will see the peak of the current COVID-19 surge in the middle of March.

Experts have predicted that the number of new cases in the city will keep rising in the next two weeks and reach its peak afterwards, depending on the prevention and control work, Anh said.

He was speaking at a meeting with local authorities in Hà Nội on Sunday on measures to reduce pressure for grassroots-level medical workers, those who work at the health clinics of wards and communes.

The situation is complicated in Hà Nội as there are more than 10,000 new patients reported on a daily basis, and 76 communes and wards (12.8 per cent of the total) have had their risk levels raised to Level 3 (high risk), the city’s chair said.

However, 96 per cent of the patients are mild cases that express no symptoms, and 95 per cent are being treated at home.

“The pressure is immense for medical workers, especially those at the grassroots level,” Anh said. “They still have to monitor these patients, and at the same time, keep up other healthcare procedures such as confirming new patients, recoveries, and reviewing the elderly with underlying health issues and those who have not been vaccinated.”

The city considers this a huge challenge and calls for a more thorough use of digital systems in managing patients, as well as citizens’ collaboration, according to Anh. Everyone needs to be aware of the COVID-19 symptoms, care process, equipment and medicine needed to have at home.

They also need to know when to perform self-tests to prevent wasting test kits, and who to report to, through which channels, when having the symptoms.

Anh asked the director of the city’s Department of Health to form an inter-sectoral working group with clear points of contact to review and report on the urgent issues every day.

He also asked the health authorities to clarify how many patients a communal medical worker can take care of per day, and identify the number of workers needed for each day so other sectors can support and coordinate.

In terms of school reopening, director of the city’s Department of Education and Training Trần Thế Cương said 15 districts had asked to let their students, who are in grade 1-6, to study online again to ensure their safety, as they had not been vaccinated.

“The city will have the final decision after reviewing reports by the education department,” Hà Nội chair Chu Ngọc Anh said. VNS