Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, speaks at a meeting on pandemic prevention on Friday (May 21). — Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

HCM CITY — HCM City authorities have warned all agencies and residents to be on high alert to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the virus is “already in the community”, following recent domestically transmitted cases without known sources of infection.

Speaking at a meeting on Friday, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the People’s Committee, said: “The risk already exists in the city and the situation in other localities remains unpredictable.”

Among other restrictions, the city has ordered all small eateries on streets to close by 6pm from May 21. Only take-away and online delivery are allowed. 

HCM City has also set up inspection teams for COVID-19 prevention and control in city districts and Thủ Đức City.

Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, director of the Department of Health, said that in an emergency the city would be able to mobilise 600 teams from hospitals and medical centres as well as medical students to collect 100,000 samples for testing within 24 hours.

“The total testing capacity has reached 15,000 samples in 24 hours,” he noted. “The capacity of rapid testing is vital to detect community infections and break the chain of infections.”

Early detection and tracing of contacts are critical, according to Bỉnh.

As of Thursday (May 20), the city had taken samples from everyone returning from Đà Nẵng and other COVID hotspots in northern provinces.

The HCM City Centre for Disease Control (HCDC) has required an additional eight areas for medical isolation, including six areas in Hải Dương Province and two in HCM City (including two restaurants in District 3 and the Medic Medical Centre in District 10).

The centre said anyone returning from COVID-19 hotspots must contact local health authorities for health declarations and testing. They should limit contact with others while waiting for their test results.

“The Department of Health will continue to organise random testing of passengers on flights from provinces and cities regarded as hotspots,” Bỉnh said.

The Department of Health has also prepared preventive measures at industrial parks, and export processing zones and high-tech parks, and has tightened control for business, services, education, religion and tourism activities.

Tighter measures 

The city has ordered all agencies to continue to comply with its criteria for COVID-19 prevention. 

Pharmacies have been asked to immediately notify local health authorities if they notice people buying medicine for treatment of acute respiratory infection symptoms.

The city has banned all festivals, religious ceremonies, sports tournaments and events with 20 people or more. No events of more than 30 people in one room are allowed, and no more than 20 people at gatherings are allowed in public places outside of offices, schools or hospitals.

At least two metres should be kept between people in public places.

Public transport vehicles have been ordered to enhance vehicle ventilation, while restaurants failing to guarantee the distance measures will only be allowed to offer take-away.

Service sectors, especially the transport sector, must record customer information to provide to the health sector for tracing purposes upon request.

The city government has asked the city Police to direct all district Police and Thủ Đức City to continue to strictly control illegal entrants.

Any individual and organisation violating regulations on medical declaration and compliance with pandemic prevention and control must be strictly punished, Phong said.

The city has already closed gyms, fitness centres, billiard places, yoga establishments, wedding centres, buffet restaurants, and events with more than 30 people.

Since the beginning of the fourth wave at the end of April, the country has recorded at least 1,786 new domestically transmitted cases in 30 provinces and cities. Over 100 new cases were recently recorded per day for seven consecutive days.

Of the number, the hotspots are in industrial zones with 938 new cases as of May 20, accounting for 52.5 per cent of the country’s total domestically transmitted cases.

In HCM City, as of May 20, at least six new COVID-19 domestic cases had been recorded, after more than 20 days of no cases. 

The city has conducted the tracing and zoning of the contacts of patients, with more than 10,000 samples taken for testing, most of which have had negative results.

City authorities said people must continue to strictly follow the Ministry of Health’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). — VNS