Deputy Secretary of the Da Nang Party Committee and Chairman of the municipal People's Council Luong Nguyen Minh Triet on Sunday afternoon dismissed rumours of imposing local lockdown in 3 districts of Thanh Khe, Lien Chieu, Cam Le or citywide lockdown.  

Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Luong Nguyen Minh Triet (left) delivers his address on the Sunday meeting to discuss rising cases of COVID-19. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

“Da Nang is on the right track in fighting COVID-19 and its policy responses are steps in the right direction. Hence, there is absolutely no need for city-wide lockdown or placing 3 districts of Thanh Khe, Lien Chieu, Cam Le under further localised coronavirus restrictions”, Mr Triet remarked.

 Deputy Secretary Triet directed the health agency and relevant units to maximize available resources to roll out a mass testing across the city from July 17 -21.

The city leader highlighted the importance of mass community testing in generating accurate COVID-19 risk assessment in order to enable appropriate responses to help mitigate the impact of the crisis on the city.

Mr Triet called on the health agency to put strictest measures in testing sites to reduce the risk of cross infection in hot weather, as well as expand test capacity and efforts to expedite processing to send swab samples to labs of the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control and Prevention as soon as possible.

Mr Triet demanded district authorities and local health agency to push pilots to help the primary close contacts of active cases of COVID-19 self-isolate at home in eligible locations in accordance with the guidance produced by the Ministry of Health. This pilot program will be scaled up across the city after conducting successfully in eligible locations, Mr Triet said.      

Municipal People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh called for stricter enforcement of and adherence to existing public health measures to slow the spread of the virus amid surge in cases.

Chairman Chinh urged the health agency to speed up coronavirus testing for residents in ring-fencing COVID-19 hotspots and local lockdown areas along with those in high-risk settings.

The city leader asked government agencies and departments to develop distance planning at work to ensure physical distance in the workplace, with 50% of their employees to be allowed to work remotely.

Mr Chinh urged relevant agencies to ensure a sufficient supply of food and essential items for residents in ring-fencing COVID-19 hotspots and local lockdown areas with top priority given to poor families and those in especially difficult circumstances.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by H.L