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HCM City vows to speed up COVID vaccination

Ho Chi Minh City will speed up COVID-19 vaccination, Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of its People’s Committee, told an online meeting on June 11.

A team led by People’s Committee vice chairman Duong Anh Duc and health experts will be set up to carry out procedures related to negotiations for vaccine supplies, consultations and organisation of inoculations, he said.

The city aims to vaccinate two thirds of its population this year, has a roadmap with a priority list of people because of limited supply yet, but would also ensure a sufficient number of people get vaccinated, he said.

District 12 authorities sought permission from the People’s Committee to continue district-wide social distancing under the Government’s Directive No. 15 after 15 days of social distancing under the more stringent Directive No. 16 in its Thanh Loc ưard.

Le Truong Hai Hieu, its chairman, said Thanh Loc has not recorded more new COVID-19 cases since social distancing began.

Tan Thoi Nhat ward has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the district, 51, he said.

The district has set up a quarantine with 100 beds at the Tran Phu Secondary School.          

Nguyen Tri Dung, chairman of the Go Vap People’s Committee, said the district has had 106 COVID patients, including five whose status would be announced by the Ministry of Health.  

According to the city Department of Health, the city’s largest cluster, which began in Go Vap on May 26, has seen 441 cases.

They include one each from four industrial parks. But thanks to early detection, there has been no spread from them to other workers, it said.  

The city has so far controlled Go Vap cluster well, it said.

Dung said 15 days of social distancing is enough for the district. 

He said locals have complied strictly with regulations on social distancing under the Directive No.16. Non-essential services enterprises have closed.

The district has seven markets, seven supermarkets, and 200 convenience stores open to keep prices steady he said.

The district also identified facilities for use as quarantine.

The Tan Binh District People’s Committee sought permission from the city for social distancing under the Directive No. 15 for one more week.

Director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh said many small COVID clusters have been found this week in the city, but due to social distancing, the risk has been low.

In the clusters found in a warehouse in Hoc Mon district, Ehome apartment building in Binh Tan district and a family in Thu Duc city, only people in the infected people’s family were found infected, he said.  

The city is monitoring the clusters, he said.

Binh said the city would continue to tighten preventive measures, especially at industrial parks and export processing zones, to detect, localise and stamping out outbreaks in a timely manner.

Duong Hong Thang, chairman of the Hoc Mon People’s Committee, said manual workers and street vendors should be tested since they make up 70 per cent of the district’s patients so far./.
VNA/VNP


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