Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen on Thursday pointed out that the COVID-19 situation remains complicated in Da Nang, and the city continues to daily register triple digit COVID-19 cases during her meeting with members of Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control.

Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen chaired Thursday’s meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control on the afternoon of February 17. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Mrs Yen also stated that the number of patients with severe COVID-19 in Da Nang remains high, and the majority of whom are older adults, people with underlying health conditions, and unvaccinated adults, thereby urging the health agency to maximize its resources to effectively manage such patients in an attempt to lower death rates among them.

The Da Nang leader stressed the need for authorities at local level to identify the unvaccinated in their locales in order to encourage them to get life-saving jabs due to the fact that unvaccinated people may be more at risk of developing severe illnesses as against those who are fully vaccinated, and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients are costing the city’s health system a lot of money.

Health agency was tasked to continue its efforts to reach the unvaccinated, especially older people, those with underlying health conditions and immigrants, in order to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to help them protect from the deadly desease.

Mrs Yen remarked that Da Nang is adopting the three-tiered treatment model, with the first being temporary COVID-19 hospitals and grassroots medical facilities, including home-based and community-based ones, which are designed to care for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients. High priority has been given to closely monitor patients with mild illness under home-based treatment in a bid to timely transfer those whose symptoms appear to be getting worse to the hospital, she emphasized.

Mrs Yen highlighted the significance of better coordination between local residents, authorities at local level and healthcare workers at grassroots level in providing timely intervention for high-risk patients to prevent their illness from getting worse.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by H.L