Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen highlighted the need to enhance compliance monitoring and enforcement of COVID-19 rules among food service establishments following a rise in cases in the city at a meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control held late on Saturday, November 6.

She called on owners of drinking and eating establishments along with each individual in Da Nang to voluntarily comply with the recommended precautionary measures, especially the 5K recommendations of the Ministry of Health, to curb the spread of the virus amid the complex developments of the pandemic.

Mrs Yen emphasized that local authorities at local level and relevant agencies must enforce the rules to have harsh punishments for those who are found violating the city’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Vice Chairwoman Yen delivered her instructions at Saturday’s meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Vice Chairwoman Yen stated that among 21 confirmed cases recorded in Da Nang on Saturday are 2 that are less likely to spread the virus while the remainder that are likely to spread the virus to others in their communities.

She remarked that all active cases in Da Nang are linked to 5 chains of transmission, of which, 4 have yet to be identified the source of the infection.

Mrs Yen said that Da Nang has witnessed an increasing number of community cases, thereby asking authorities at local level and relevant agencies to ramp up investigations into new cases, track down all contacts of new cases, and identify accurately high-risk areas related to confirmed cases in a bid to suppress the virus.   

She stated that authorities at local level have yet to take resolute action against violations of the city’s COVID-19 rules, and many crowded restaurants have been found to have failed to comply with QR code check-in rules.

Mrs Yen, therefore, directed authorities at local level to enhance enforcement of COVID-19 rules in food service establishments, and keep a close watch on people entering and returning to Da Nang from COVID-19 affected areas. The heed must be paid on imposing tough punishments on those who break the rules, she emphasized.

Mrs Yen also said that increasing the certainty of punishment, potential offenders will be deterred by the risk of apprehension. 

She said that the city’s COVID-19 vaccination program will likely peak in November with a focus on offering first life-saving jabs to high school students and second shots to those who got the single dose.

The administration of the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for senior high school students in Da Nang are now accomplished.

The Da Nang leader instructed authorizes at local level to adopt a flexible approach to quarantine policy for primary close contacts. They were asked to only apply mandatory quarantine in designated facilities for those who are unable to self-isolate at home in order to save resources and reduce costs for their localities.

The health agency was tasked to conduct exercises for the treatment of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and mild cases at home as soon as possible in a bid to ease the burden on local hospitals.

COVID-19 community testing programme is being rolled out across the city from November 7 – 10, and the city targets those most at risk from infection during this screening programme. It will reach household representatives and staff at eating and drinking establishments in an effort to help identify people who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms so that they will be isolated timely, to help prevent outbreaks and keep rates low in Da Nang.    

Mrs Yen stated that screening programme is very important to the city to create an accurate risk assessment in order to enable appropriate measures to be taken to effective respond to the pandemic.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by H.L