Health officers take COVID-19 testing samples for workers in Cẩm Giàng District, Hải Dương Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Tú

HẢI DƯƠNG — Hải Dương Province authorities plan to tighten management and control of concentrated quarantine areas, locked down places and field hospitals to avoid the risk of COVID-19 spreading.

Speaking at a meeting on Sunday, Secretary of the province’s Party Committee Phạm Xuân Thăng said if cross-infection was reported at quarantine areas, top leaders of the districts where the incident happens would be held responsible and punished.

The northern province is the biggest COVID-19 hotspot at present in Việt Nam with 539 confirmed locally-transmitted cases.

There are 103 concentrated quarantine areas in the province, including 29 in Chí Linh City, 27 in Kinh Môn Town and 16 in Cẩm Giàng District.

Health experts from the Ministry of Health late last week raised concerns about the high risk of cross-infection in local quarantine areas because of insufficient facilities, particularly places where thousands of workers from Vietnam Poyun Electronics (POYUN) Co., Ltd in Chí Linh City stay. 

The experts suggested Hải Dương Province’s Health Department provide more facilities and equipment to quarantine areas, as well as using army personnel to help manage quarantine areas. 

Weekly testing was also recommended for staff working in quarantine areas. The staff must also master how to use personal protection suits, keep their hands clean and sterilise surfaces.

Last Saturday night, 1,800 workers of POYUN Company were moved to new concentrated quarantines areas under the management of army forces.

Districts in the province are actively preparing more concentrated quarantine areas. For example, Bình Giang District has added five quarantine areas which could accommodate about 1,800 people. Together with quarantine areas arranged by communes, the district can quarantine about 8,200 people.

In Cẩm Giàng District, quarantine facilities are ready for about 6,000 people. However, the district’s People’s Committee chairman Trần Văn Quyết said it still needs assistance from the province and other districts in the worst-case scenario as the district is home to industrial zones with more than 60,000 workers.

On Sunday afternoon, for the second time this month, Hải Dương Province People’s Committee called on neighbouring provinces to allow goods-carrying trucks from the province to access border gates.

According to the chairman of the committee Nguyễn Dương Thái, as many local enterprises resumed business after the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday, their demand for transportation of goods, farming products, materials for production and import/export increased.

About 4,080ha of crops with a productivity of about 90,760 tonnes are going to be harvested including 3,205ha of onion, 621ha of carrot, 261ha of cabbages and other vegetables.

Meanwhile, neighbouring provinces like Hải Phòng and Quảng Ninh have reportedly refused trucks from Hải Dương, even when goods are unloaded and transferred to other trucks along borderlines.

According to Hải Phòng City’s authorities, they only stopped trucks that carry farming products due to fear of disease infection. Trucks carrying other products for production, import and export which are packed and sealed can travel via the city normally as long as goods owners and drivers strictly follow COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

Earlier, on February 5, Hải Dương asked neighbouring localities Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, Bắc Giang, Hưng Yên and Thái Bình to let its goods-carrying trucks travel to posts and border gates and vice versa.

As of yesterday, all 12 districts, towns and city in Hải Dương Provinces had reported COVID-19 cases with the total number of confirmed cases at 557. Social distancing was applied across the province on Tuesday, while Chí Linh City and Cẩm Giàng District are under lockdown. 

Employees of State agencies will work online and transport services will be suspended in the province, except for the transportation of food and other necessities, as well as workers, experts and production materials.

Migrant workers who spent Tết in their hometowns will not be allowed to return to Hải Dương at this time. — VNS