HCM City People’s Committee vice chairman Dương Anh Đức heads a team to check Pouyuen Vietnam Co.Ltd on June 10 after a COVID-19 case was recorded there. VNA/VNS.Photo Thanh Vũ

HCM CITY — HCM City will speed up COVID-19 vaccination, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of its People’s Committee, told an online meeting on Friday.

A team led by People’s Committee vice chairman Dương Anh Đức and health experts will be set up to carry out procedures related to negotiations for vaccine supplies, consultations and organisation of inoculations, he said.

The city aims to vaccinate two thirds of its population this year, has a roadmap with a priority list of people because of limited supply yet, but would also ensure a sufficient number of people get vaccinated, he said.

District 12 authorities sought permission from the People’s Committee to continue district-wide social distancing under the Government’s Directive No. 15 after 15 days of social distancing under the more stringent Directive No. 16 in its Thạnh Lộc Ward.

Lê Trương Hải Hiếu, its chairman, said Thạnh Lộc has not recorded more new COVID-19 cases since social distancing began.

Tân Thới Nhất Ward has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the district, 51, he said.

The district has set up a quarantine with 100 beds at the Trần Phú Secondary School.            

Nguyễn Trí Dũng, chairman of the Gò Vấp People’s Committee, said the district has had 106 COVID patients, including five whose status would be announced by the Ministry of Health.    

According to the city Department of Health, the city’s largest cluster, which began in Gò Vấp on May 26, has seen 441 cases.

They include one each from four industrial parks. But thanks to early detection, there has been no spread from them to other workers, it said.    

The city has so far controlled Gò Vấp cluster well, it said.

Dũng said 15 days of social distancing is enough for the district.   

He said locals have complied strictly with regulations on social distancing under the Directive No.16. Non-essential services enterprises have closed.

The district has seven markets, seven supermarkets, and 200 convenience stores open to keep prices steady he said.

The district also identified facilities for use as quarantine.

Tân Bình District People’s Committee sought permission from the city for social distancing under the Directive No. 15 for one more week.  

New small COVID-19 clusters

Head of the department, Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, said many small COVID clusters have been found this week in the city, but due to social distancing, the risk has been low.

In the clusters found in a warehouse in Hóc Môn District, Ehome apartment building in Bình Tân District and a family in Thủ Đức city, only people in the infected people’s family were found infected, he said.    

The city is monitoring the clusters, he said.

According to a Ministry of Health report, the city has 838 COVID patients, including 270 recovered and two dead ones.

Bỉnh said the city would continue to tighten preventive measures, especially at industrial parks and export processing zones, to detect, localise and stamping out outbreaks in a timely manner.

Dương Hồng Thắng, chairman of the Hóc Môn People’s Committee, said manual workers and street vendors should be tested since they make up 70 per cent of the district’s patients so far.  VNS

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The People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta province of Tiền Giang has ordered social distancing under the Government’s Directive 15 for COVID-19 prevention and control starting on June 12 until further announcement after three new cases were found recently. VNS