During her meeting with members of the Da Nang Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Thursday, municipal People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen highlighted urgent need for the health agency and municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to accurately estimate the number of cases in coming future that can help the municipal government in acquiring the required resources in order to effectively control the pandemic.

Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen delivers her instructions at Thursday’s meeting. Photo: LE HUNG

Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Kim Yen asked authorities at local level to take epidemic prevention and control as the top priority and the most important task.

The municipal Department of Health was tasked to identify all approved medicines for treating COVID-19, especially oral antiviral medications, in a bid to provide guidance to assist authorities in developing local policies and practices to support the timely administration of medicines for COVID-19 patients under home-based isolation and care.

The municipal Department of Tourism was instructed to take appropriate measures to support the city's pandemic recovery and encourage tourists back safely.

The municipal Department of Industry and Trade and the municipal Market Management Bureau will work together to increase monitoring and surveillance of the sale and trade of goods, biological supplies, and medicines for treating COVID-19 at pharmacies across Da Nang in efforts to impose harsh punishment for violations ranging from excessive speculation to price gouging.

Doctor Nguyen Tien Hong, the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health, stated that Da Nang is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases under home-based isolation and care, thereby urging authorities at local level to send more medical staff to local health stations, especially mobile medical stations, in order to support such patients to recover from the illness.

Doctor Hong said that there are currently 19 hospitals in Da Nang to provide medical care and treatment for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. Besides, the health sector is also accelerating the use of antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19 patients in the community, said Dr. Hong.

Mrs Le Thi Bich Thuan, the Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training said that since March 1, preschools in Da Nang have seen a higher number of students who attend in-person classes compared with previous days while the remaining schools have witnessed a decline in numbers of teaching staff and students as a result of many of them having to self-isolate because of COVID-19.

The schools are opening with the protective measures in order to keep their teaching staff and students safe and healthy during the pandemic. They are implementing blended learning approach that can combine the best of both traditional and online instruction to offer engaging learning experiences for students who are attending physical classes and are self-isolating at home in efforts to keep quarantined students learning.

Department of Education and Training will work with the health agency and the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to issue an appropriate policy for in-person learning that allows the flexibility and adaptability to the new normal amid COVID-19 but not neglect the city’s COVID-19 guidelines in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus and reduce confusion in parents of students.

Reporting by LE HUNG – translating by H.L