Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam at the meeting with Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces yesterday. — Photo baochinhphu.vn

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam on Monday urged all people working in industrial zones and factories to make medical declarations in a bid to prevent anymore concentrated COVID-19 outbreaks.

During an online meeting with authorities in Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces on Monday, the Deputy PM also required coordination between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to issue instruction documents.

"The developments of the pandemic in the two provinces requires us to take precautions early," he said.

"Medical declarations in industrial zones is needed to ensure the virus will not spread to other areas and COVID-19 prevention and control will be more proactive. 

"The Ministry of Industry and Trade and local authorities must strengthen their responsibilities even further.”

Regarding difficulties in harvesting agricultural products in pandemic-affected areas, he asked Bắc Ninh, Bắc Giang and other provinces to be very flexible in implementing prevention measures, isolation and social distancing to ensure production is not interrupted.

The Deputy Prime Minister also praised efforts of the two provinces in pandemic prevention and control over the past few days, contributing to ensuring safety as well as successfully organising the election of deputies to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels.

He said Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang are the first two provinces to actually fight against the pandemic in the industrial zones. They need to be more flexible, creative and responsible in the implementation of virus prevention. It would be their experiences used for other industrial zones and provinces to follow in the future.

He asked to further accelerate the application of technology to select factories, production departments and workers who need to be tested and screened every day to ensure efficiency and save costs.

New infections related to the industrial park are still increasing, mainly in the isolation areas, mostly in Hosiden Vietnam Company in Quang Châu Industrial zone, according to Chairman of the People's Committee of Bắc Giang Province, Lê Ánh Dương.

About 4,000 workers of this company are in quarantine and new infections are expected to increase more.

Bắc Giang is currently recording between four and eight infections in the community every day, mainly due to close contact with infected cases in the industrial zones.

The province is focusing on prevention and control of infections in the community, workers' accommodation areas and solving social security issues for about 60,000 workers in 61 provinces and cities working in four industrial zones which are temporarily closed.

The province's biggest problem is still testing capacity. There are still 20,000 to 30,000 test samples each day that are not being completed within 24 hours. 

The Ministry of Health has directed Nha Trang Pasteur Institute to install more testing machines to support Bắc Giang province. But they need more support from health and public security ministries, Dương said.

In Bắc Ninh Province, 499 community COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Monday morning. 

According to the director of the Department of Health, Tô Thị Mai Hoa, the province has found nearly 37,000 F1 and F2 cases. In which, 31,000 cases are in quarantine. 

The outbreak at the Canon company has been controlled and it is expected to return to operation today (May 25).

The province is ongoing to trace cases related to a number of companies and employees who are related to outbreaks in industrial zones in Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces.

The province also set up quick response teams for emergency cases and developed a plan to respond for more than 1,000 infections and be ready for the scenario of 30,000 cases according to the forecast of the Ministry of Health.

According to Dr. Trần Đắc Phu, a consultant for the Ministry of Health's Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, there are tens of thousands of F1 cases in industrial zones in Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces. 

So it is necessary to have appropriate, flexible and creative response measures in place.

All factory workers are considered F1 cases if one positive case is found. 

However, the local authorities need to classify F1 cases in order to have a quick and appropriate test plan and isolation at home or in quarantine zones.

The leader of Bắc Ninh Province suggested that the Ministry of Health issue temporary guidance on medical isolation of F1 cases at home so that the province can prepare a pilot plan in the near future in the case of a high number of infections and F1 cases increase.

The two provinces are also planning to reopen factories and industrial zones. They are waiting for the guidance of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

At the meeting, a representative of the Steering Committee's rapid response information group for disease prevention also suggested reopening and maintain safe production for factories and industrial zones. — VNS