HCMC – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on September 14 approved HCMC’s proposal to extend stringent social distancing in line with the prime minister’s Directive 16 for two more weeks, said secretary of the HCMC Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen.
At a meeting of the HCMC Party Committee on September 14 to discuss the HCMC government’s plan to continue fighting the pandemic and help the economy recover after September 15, Nen said most of the districts in the city had yet to meet Covid-19 prevention and control criteria, so the city must continue strict social distancing.
Districts in the city can be divided into three groups: those which have reached the safety criteria, those which have almost reached the criteria and districts which must strive harder to bring the pandemic under control, the local media reported.
Districts which have brought the pandemic under control can resume activities step-by-step, prioritizing safety.
The municipal Party chief said after employing strict anti-pandemic measures for over three weeks, the city had received support from the Government, ministries, agencies and other localities.
The city has reached some positive results with mass testing, the treatment of Covid-19 patients to reduce Covid-19 deaths, ensuring social welfare for local residents and increasing the vaccination coverage.
Nen called on officials to consider the role and responsibility of the municipal anti-Covid steering committee, Thu Duc City, districts, communes, wards and towns.
The city must also analyze factors that have allowed districts to meet or fail to meet targets. Both objective and subjective reasons, experiences and effective initiatives should be discussed. The most important issue is what the city would do in the coming periods and how strict anti-pandemic measures should be.
In the ongoing fourth Covid-19 wave, HCMC has been practicing social distancing for 61 days with different levels of severity. Specifically, from May 31 to June 14, the city applied measures under the prime minister’s Directive 15 before deploying the municipal government’s Directive 10 between June 15 and July 8. Since July 9, the city has been practicing social distancing under the prime minister’s Directive 16 with strict anti-pandemic measures.
