PM asks for better COVID-19 prevention on Tet holidays
VGP - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged the Ministry of Health to work with local authorities to prevent COVID-19 transmission during the upcoming Lunar New Year Festival and festival season as XBB.1.5, the latest Omicron subvariant is spreading in other countries and may ignite wave of COVID infections.
This is part of Public Telegram 05/CD-TTg, dated January 8, 2023 on disease prevention during the Lunar New Year Festival and festival season in 2023.
Ministers, ministerial-level leaders, and local leaders are responsible for implementing Directive No. 22/CT-TTg with an aim to prepare for the country’s largest holiday.
The Ministry of Health is in charge of keeping a close watch on disease evolution and work with local authorities to early detect new outbreaks and accelerate the vaccination rollout.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has to work with the Ministry of Health and local authorities to deploy safety measures for tourists and residents during the festival season.
Provincial and municipal People’s Committees are responsible for supervising disease transmission; implementing disease prevention measures; speeding up vaccination for vulnerable groups especially the elderly, people with chronic diseases, and children aged from five to under 12.
The Government chief underlined the importance of strengthening disease inspection at border gates, especially tourists from countries and territories where XBB.1.5 infection cases have been reported, and boost community surveillance at medical treatment facilities for early detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Earlier, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong emphasized the necessity to strengthen supervision and take more samples for COVID-19 testing at border gates while maintaining the current pandemic prevention and control measures as usual.
Border localities need to pay attention to taking samples in the community, and reviewing the capacity of treatment and accommodation facilities in order to cope with possible new wave of infections.
After China decided to reopen the borders and lift COVID-19 quarantine measures from January 8, health experts said the decision may lead to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases but Viet Nam is unlikely to be at risk of an outbreak because of its community immunity.
As of late January, the national COVID-19 caseload rose to 11, 525,491, including 10,611,389 recoveries and 43,186 fatalities.
As of January 3, Viet Nam administered 265,533,350 COVID-19 vaccine doses./.
