The HCM City Department of Health uses the Cần Giờ District Health Centre as a hospital specialising in treatment of COVID-19. VNA/VNS.Photo

HCM CITY— The HCM City Department of Health will temporarily use the HCM City Oncology Hospital’s District 9 facility to treat COVID-19 patients, the third so far, if the incidence continues to increase.

Dr Tăng Chí Thượng, the department’s deputy head, at an online meeting between the department and hospitals on March 23, instructed relevant divisions and hospitals to ensure there are enough doctors and nurses there.

A field hospital each in Củ Chi District and the Cần Giờ District Health Centre are the only ones now used to treat people with the disease.

The Cần Giờ facility will see the number of beds increased to 600 since its quarantine area is no longer because people are being sent to other sites in the district.

The department’s planning and finance division is working with the city Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control to ensure there is adequate preventive equipment for health workers at these hospitals.

Thượng said hospitals should strengthen surveillance of compliance with regulations to prevent health staff from contracting infections.

According to the Ministry of Health, a doctor was infected while treating COVID-19 patients at the emergency department of the Central Tropical Diseases Hospital in Hà Nội’s Đông Anh District.

The HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases is shifting patients with all other tropical diseases except tetanus to other general hospitals in the city for continued treatment.

The department wants it to focus on COVID-19 but avoid cross-contamination, and so the number of beds for COVID-19 patients will increase soon to 400 from 80 now.

Thượng also instructed each hospital to set up a negative air pressure cleanroom with essential equipment for COVID-19 patients who need surgery.       

Quarantine areas  

Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, the department chief, said the city would use a dormitory with nearly 900 beds belonging to the HCM City University of Foreign Languages- Information Technology in Hóc Môn District and the others with nearly 1,000 rooms including 300 single rooms belonging to the HCM City National Political Academy as quarantine areas like those at the Việt Nam National University-Ho Chi Minh City.

The Việt Nam National University-Ho Chi Minh City has 9,113 people in quarantine, including children, pregnant women, seniors, and those with chronic diseases.

The department is collaborating with giant retailer Co.opmart to provide them with essential goods. VNS

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Nearly 160 hotels offer quarantine space in response to coronavirus pandemic

Nearly 160 hotels nationwide have registered as paid quarantine facilities that will receive Vietnamese and foreign nationals from overseas for their mandatory 14-day quarantine period to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As of March 24, the ministry had received registration for 156 three- to five-star hotels in 24 cities and provinces to make use of 14,723 empty rooms with 18,305 beds.

The list of registered hotels was submitted to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control for approval.

Đà Nẵng City has the highest number of registered accomodation facilities with 41 hotels, followed by Đồng Nai Province and Quảng Ninh with 29 hotels and 12 hotels, respectively.

Ten hotels and resorts in HCM City’s coastal district of Cần Giờ registered as paid quarantine facilities with 486 rooms for people required to be under mandatory quarantine, according to the municipal Department of Tourism.

The Ministry of Health asked localities to strictly comply with medical instructions at paid quarantine facilities and give priority for foreigners who are specialists, managers, business owners and skilled workers to spend their mandatory quarantine period at paid quarantine facilities. — VNS