After more than a month of practicing the ‘stay-at-home’ order with the active participation of the whole political system, the enthusiastic support of businesses and the people, Da Nang has come out victorious against COVID-19, thus ensuring the safety of the city dwellers and paving the door for comeback to a new normal.

On September 1, the representative of Da Nang Lung Hospital (1st, right) presented a hospical discharge certificates to eligible recoveries from COVID-19, including a 101-year-old female patient. Photo: LE HUNG, Graphics: MAI ANH

Great unity and solidarity 

In order to defeat the pandemic, over the past time, the city has mobilised all forces, appealed for the great support and consensus of the local people and businesses.

Since entering the "war" against COVID-19, especially during the time of ‘stay-at-home’ mandate, most of the doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have had to stay at hospitals, testing labs and high-risk areas for surveillance, isolation, sampling for testing, and epidemiological investigation tasks.

In the past 2 months, officers and soldiers of the city-based armed forces have doubled their efforts to ensure security in tandem with joining hands with others for COVID-19 containment.

Every day, in addition to mobile patrols, officers and soldiers made inspection visits to narrow, long alleys, residential areas, and apartments to support grassroots officials in observing the public compliance with the pandemic prevention rules.

Major General Vu Xuan Vien, Director of the Da Nang Police Department, said: "The city's police have mobilized maximum forces and means to carry out seriously and drastically the urgent tasks of COVID-19 prevention and control, ensuring the successful implementation of the ‘shelter-in-place’ order, thus contributing to quickly reviewing, tracing, zoning and controlling the pandemic in accordance with the municipal administration’s righteous directions".

High public consensus, great support by business community

The success in the city's pandemic containment was partly attributed to the companionship, cooperation and significant contribution of each citizen and the whole business community. During the days witnessing the city take unprecedented measures to curb the virus spread, all local streets turned quiet as residents strictly complied with the mandatory ‘stay-at-home’ order.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung, deputy head of residential group No. 21 in Thach Thang Ward, Hai Chau District said that when the pandemic started raging on the city, all residents in the group strictly followed the city's social distancing policy and limit coming into unnecessary contacts with others with the desire to make contribute to the whole city’s overall victory over the deadly virus. In fact, one of the important "medicines" to help prevent and finally repel the virus wave is public awareness.

Besides, the successful pandemic containment goal was achieved partly thanks to the significant companionship made by the local business community.

Despite encountering many financial pressures posed by the COVID-19 wave, many businesses operating in Da Nang still showed the spirit of solidarity, mutual love, standing side by side with the city in carrying out highly-meaningful social welfare programmes targeting the disadvantaged.

Le Thi Nam Phuong, Chairwoman of the Da Nang Women Entrepreneurs’ Association, said that despite many economic losses, many member businesswomen were still actively involved in social and charity activities by notably participating in offering food relief with agricultural products to those in need, giving thousands of gifts to the poor and giving out servings of rice porridge to staff and patients at the Da Nang Oncology Hospital.

Meanwhile, although FDI enterprises operating citywide faced so many difficulties like the interruption of orders, they seriously implemented the mandatory rules against COVID-19 and effectively implemented the “3-on-the-spot” (on-site working, on-site dining and on-site resting) approach applied to their staff.

Mr. Kim Jinmo, Vice Director of the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said that the city has issued many proper guidelines as well as policies to help control the virus resurgence.

The decreasing number of COVID-19 cases was viewed as firm proof showing the high effectiveness of the local government’s guidance on pandemic containment. Korean businesses operating in Da Nang were willing to share difficulties and in great support for the city’s heightened COVID-19 curbs.

Successfully push back COVID-19

A local doctor working in the city said that, thanks to the bold and timely decision of the city's leaders plus the spirit of drastic and professional actions taken by functional forces, the great efforts exerts by medical staff in quickly tracing, testing, isolating and treating, and also importantly, the high consensus of people and businesses, Da Nang achieved outstanding results in pandemic prevention and control.

"The most obvious effect is that after the practice of the ‘stay-at-home’ order, Da Nang gradually returned to a new normal, the lockdown order imposed on blockaded areas were lifted and the number of COVID-19 patients sharply decreased day by day”, the doctor said.

It can be affirmed that, thanks to the strict deployment of the principle of ‘stay-at-home’ mandate to the highest level, the city has basically achieved the COVID-19 containment goals. It is worth praising that infection chains were completely cut off on a large scale, thereby timely detecting and removing a large number of infections from the community.

Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Le Trung Chinh emphasised: “We have always recognizes and appreciates the high consensus of the people and the business community. It is the people's sense of serious compliance and the consensus of businesses in implementing the recent drastic yet tough measures against COVID-19, plus the determination of the whole political system that have brought success in the pandemic containment”.

Reporting by P.CHUNG, L. HUNG, N. PHU – Translating by ANH THU