During her meeting with members of Da Nang Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Monday afternoon, municipal People's Committee Vice Chairman Ngo Thi Kim Yen asked the health agency and the municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to predict the likely peak of the epidemic for COVID-19 to enable the city to effectively combat the pandemic.

The health sector was tasked to consider the proposal of the Da Nang General Hospital on stopping the reception and treatment of infected patients at the field hospital located on Ha Van Tinh Street in Lien Chieu District.

Municipal People's Committee Vice Chairman Ngo Thi Kim Yen chaired Monday’s meeting of Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Photo: LE HUNG

Vice Chairman Yen asked the tourism industry to make thorough and careful preparation to welcome international tourists back from March 15.

The municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs was directed to review policies to support those affected by COVID-19. In addition, the Department of Education and Training was asked to continue monitoring and evaluating the return to in-person instruction in Da Nang’s schools in order to develop response plan to ensure educational continuity for students during the pandemic, as well as give advice to the municipal government to extend the school year to ensure the quality of teaching and learning from schools.

Mrs Yen said that Da Nang targets to achieve its goal of giving COVID-19 booster vaccine or third dose to all persons aged 18 or over in March 2022 but 70% of the city’s eligible people have now received a COVID-19 top up jab. Therefore, she highlighted the need for authorities at local level to encourage local residents to come forward for their jabs as soon as they are eligible to get the best possible protection against coronavirus.

Authorities at local level were instructed to improve the public’s awareness and reporting of their COVID-19 infections in a bid to access timely supporting guidance to make a full recovery from the illness and prevent from developing worse conditions.

Mrs Le Thi Bich Thuan, the Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training said that Da Nang’s schools have reported a continued rise in the number of their students who attend in-person classes. Till date, a combined total of 186 pre-schools have re-opened for face-to-face learning, and 10,365 children or more than 89.4% have returned to in-person schooling. In addition, there have been significant increase in the percentage of students going back to the class across the city with more than 52.8% of the students at primary schools, nearly 59.5% at junior high schools, about 89.5% at senior high schools, and over 78.4% at continuing education centres.

Reporting by LE HUNG – translating by H.L