Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình (third from left) visits the No 3 COVID-19 Treatment Field Hospital in the southern province of Đồng Nai on Monday. VNA/VNS Photo

ĐỒNG NAI — The southern province of Đồng Nai needs about a month to control its COVID-19 outbreak, which has hit almost 400 cases in the fourth wave, said the provincial People’s Committee chairman Cao Tiến Dũng, adding that there are many undetected cases in the community.

A working group led by Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình visited the province on Monday to inspect the province’s COVID-19 prevention and control work.

Informing Bình about COVID-19 outbreaks in Đồng Nai, Dũng said the province, particularly Biên Hòa City, would continue to see an increase of SARS-CoV-2 cases and COVID-19 close contacts, or F1s.

“Without timely taking the F1s to concentrated quarantine areas and COVID-19 vaccines, the province would face many difficulties to cope with the COVID-19 outbreaks,” Dũng said.

For the last few days, the province reported big COVID-19 clusters at markets which then spread into workplaces and residential areas, Dũng said, adding that some confirmed COVID-19 cases were working at companies with 10,000-20,000 employees.

“If the outbreaks continue getting worse in the coming days, the province will have to ask to reduce the capacity of affected factories,” he said.

Đồng Nai is an industrial manufacturing hub in the south of Việt Nam with 31 industrial parks employing more than 600,000 people.

The province has prepared 100 beds for COVID-19 patients with critical health problems at two provincial hospitals and field hospitals with up to 1,500 beds.

Local authorities said a lockdown of Đồng Nai City was a possibility if the situation got worse, while other districts and cities would adopt disease prevention and control measures depending on the development of local COVID-19 outbreaks, Dũng said.

Dũng asked for the health ministry’s support to establish and operate the treatment area for COVID-19 patients with critical health problems.

He also asked the Government to allocate vaccines to localities with a high number of industrial parks and workers like Đồng Nai.

Nguyễn Phú Cường, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, said that the Government should have solutions relating to procurement as the province has funding but found it difficult to buy bioproducts and medical equipment for COVID-19 prevention and control.

Deputy Prime Minster Bình urged the province to speed up the provision of support for people affected by the pandemic.

Only workplaces that meet the requirements of disease prevention and control would be allowed to operate. Those failing to meet requirements must be suspended, Bình said, adding that local authorities and employers must ensure proper conditions for workers living in factory camps.

The province was also asked to take solutions to ensure the consumption of goods, particularly farming products.

The Government would ask the health ministry to support the province as well as allocate more vaccines for Đồng Nai when Việt Nam received more vaccines in August and September, Bình said. VNS