During her meeting with members of the Da Nang Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Friday afternoon, municipal People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen asked the Department of Education and Training to release guidance to support district leaders and educators to safely reopen schools.

The guidance must focus on how schools can consistently implement mitigation strategies during all school-related activities to successfully reopen schools and keep them open, Mrs Yen emphasized.

Vice Chairwoman Yen delivered her address at the meeting of the Da Nang Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on the afternoon of October 22. Photo: LE HUNG

Under the city’s plan, classes for years 1, 9 and 12 will return first on November 1 and the remaining grades will then resume a week later on November 8.

Mrs Yen directed district leaders to create the most favourable conditions for the education sector to prepare to resume in-person instruction.

The Da Nang leader said that 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Da Nang on October 25.

Vice Chairwoman Yen therefore urged the health agency to work with the education sector to offer the life-saving jabs to all school students aged 15 to 18 years old in order to ensure that all senior high school students get their first vaccine shots before returning to the classroom.

She highlighted the need to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for high school students between October 26 and October 29 as the city will give out second vaccine doses to 500,000 people in November.

She also stressed the need to increase checks and enhance monitoring of production establishments, shopping centres and services to make sure they are using a QR code for visitor management or face tough penalties for non-compliance in an attempt to mitigate the risk of virus spread.

Authorities at local level and the health agency were tasked to set up mobile medical stations and groups of medical workers to take care of COVID-19 patients in the community. Mrs Yen highlighted the need to prepare for potential increases in COVID-19 cases.

Reporting by LE HUNG – translating by H.L