Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đúc Đam (centre) at the meeting. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam on Wednesday asked all localities to be on high alert as the COVID-19 pandemic is in the community, and stay ready to immediately zone off areas and quarantine any new infections.

Addressing a meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, Đam, who is head of the committee, said all resources are being mobilised to stamp out the pandemic in the northern provinces of Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh.

According to a report by the Ministry of Health (MoH), Viet Nam has recorded 1,647 COVID-19 cases in 28 provinces and cities since April 27, including 605 in Bắc Giang, 353 in Bắc Ninh, and 256 in Hà Nội. Most of the new cases had close contact with confirmed patients, and were already quarantined or in locked-down areas.

Deputy Health Minister Trần Văn Thuấn said that people should strictly follow the MoH’s 5K message: khẩu trang (face mask), khử khuẩn (disinfection), khoảng cách (distance), không tụ tập (no gathering), and khai báo y tế (health declaration), and take part in COVID-19 vaccinations.

Đam highlighted the importance of strengthening discipline and tightening management over the reception and quarantine of foreigners and Vietnamese citizens entering the country.

All quarantine facilities and hotels registered for quarantine must ensure pandemic prevention conditions, he noted.

The Deputy PM urged the Ministry of Health to issue guidelines for combining different testing methods for people entering Viet Nam, firstly by air. 

Classification after testing can define who is safe enough to be quarantined for only seven days at designated facilities, instead of 14 or 21 days, he stated, adding that it is important for trading and travel, including welcoming foreign experts and repatriating Vietnamese citizens stranded abroad due to the pandemic.

He asked the Ministry of Health to issue new guidelines within a week and immediately carry out testing and medical quarantine management following the new process.

Members of the steering committee also agreed to assign the military medicine force to test people in military quarantine establishments and the health sector to test people in civil quarantine facilities and hotels. — VNS