HCMC – To prevent the spread of Covid-19 to HCMC after the Lunar New Year holiday, Tet, the municipal government has ordered all people returning to the city to make health declarations.
The city will also test those arriving from Hai Duong, Quang Ninh and other Covid-19 hotspots announced by the Ministry of Health.
HCMC Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong announced the decisions at a web conference of the Government, the national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control and provinces on February 15.
Phong said HCMC had taken drastic pandemic prevention and control measures, such as restricting mass gatherings, suspending entertainment activities and nonessential services and allowing students to stay home until the end of this month.
At the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, all baggage handlers and employees having contact with passengers have been tested.
The municipal chairman required the healthcare authority to prepare sufficient Covid-19 test kits to ensure that the city can do 15,000, even 25,000 to 30,000 tests per day.
The city has worked out a plan to ensure treatment for 50-100 patients and get prepared for the scenario of 100-200 patients.
From February 5 to 10, HCMC detected 35 locally-transmitted Covid-19 patients, including nine baggage handlers at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport and 26 others in close contact with these baggage handlers.
The city has put 36 areas under lockdown and tested nearly 9,900 residents and over 2,700 medical workers of five hospitals and found no new infections.
In related news, the HCMC Center for Disease Control today, February 15, lifted the lockdown on the Ma Lang area in HCMC’s District 1.
The area was locked down from February 7 as it was linked to a baggage handler of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport who was infected with Covid-19.
The Ma Lang area is home to 775 households with some 2,000 residents. All of them have been tested for Covid-19 and the results were all negative.
By Le Anh
