Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen called on authorities at local level to intensify efforts to prevent further spread of the virus during her meeting with members of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control held late afternoon on Friday, December 3.

Mrs Yen highlighted the need to take proactive action and adopt the most effective measures to suppress the resurgence of local outbreaks.

Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen delivered her address at Friday’s meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Photo: LE HUNG

Mrs Yen stated that the city has continued to record an increase in daily COVID-19 cases in recent days with a rise in new infections in the community, showing that the COVID-19 situation in the city is still complicated. She, therefore, urged authorities at local level to access the status of their locales’ pandemic risk on a day-to-day basis in order to enable appropriate measures to be taken to curb the spread of the virus. She remarked that grade 1 pupils in an Alert Level 3 area will not be allowed to return to in-person classes.

Mrs Yen stressed the need for authorities at local level to effectively manage their local locked down areas in a bid to suppress the virus. The heath agency was tasked to help Lien Chieu District that now becomes an emerging hotspot for coronavirus cases in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus and prevent further spread of infection within Da Nang community.

Regarding the resumption of in-person teaching for students in grades 1, 8 and 9 from December 6, Vice Chairwoman Yen directed the municipal Department of Education and Training to work with the health agencies to conduct COVID-19 testing for their teachers before returning to campus for face-to-face instruction and one week after school reopening. In addition, teaching staff are recommended to limit contact with others in crowded places, self-monitor their health and promptly report to their schools if they develop any COVID-19 symptoms.

Mrs Yen highlighted the need for authorities at local level to enhance compliance monitoring and enforcement of home quarantine rules for primary close contacts in order to make sure that they are complying with the rules or face mandatory quarantine order in a designated facility and hash punishments for non-compliance.

Doctor Ton That Thanh, the Director of the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that 49 additional COVID-19 patients were discharged from the Field Hospital and the Lung Hospital on Friday, December 3. There are just 791 remaining active cases of COVID-19, including 5 requiring critical care, that are being treated in the Lung Hospital and the field hospital in the western part of ​​the city. In which, 17 hospitalized cases tested negative for the virus once while tests on 3 another ones came back negative twice.

Thanh Khe District Authorities have announced that Thanh Khe Dong Ward moved from level 2 into level 3 of the city’s four-tier coronavirus alert system at 1:00 pm on December 3 as it has emerged as a new hot spot for coronavirus cases.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – translating by H.L