HCMC – HCMC Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc has signed a plan detailing several solutions to respond to the heavily mutated Omicron coronavirus variant.
Under the plan, the city will tighten border controls at official ports of entry to prevent the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
Competent agencies are tasked with closely monitoring people’s health to detect suspected cases at residential areas, firms and agencies at the earliest.
As an effective way to discover Omicron infections, the city will conduct gene sequencing of all Covid cases who have entered Vietnam for 28 days and have tested positive for the disease again.
In addition, the city will stay updated on global news about the new variant to accurately assess its risk and step up preparedness to curb the disease from spreading to the city.
To protect residents from being infected with Omicron, the city will speed up vaccine booster rollouts.
Apart from maintaining the operations of pop-up healthcare stations and enhancing home care for Covid patients, the city will prepare to operate Covid field hospitals or treatment facilities as soon as Omicron is detected in the city.
At a press briefing on December 13, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, head of the office at the HCMC Department of Health, said the city’s competent agencies were closely monitoring those who have entered Vietnam through airports and seaports.
Over the past three days, over 1,090 foreigners have entered HCMC, with 19 of them infected with Covid. All the positive Covid samples have been sequenced, and no Omicron cases have been detected, the local media reported.
