Expanding green zones
According to Party Secretary Ngo Thanh Tuan of Long Thuong Commune in Can Giuoc District, the commune imposed a strict lockdown in isolation areas and asked local residents to ensure distancing so as to prevent community transmission. As a result, the number of cases in the commune has been falling in recent days.
Can Giuoc was the first district in Long An Province to report community cases in the latest outbreak and has so far recorded more than 5,000 infections. With the bold action of the whole political system and the joint efforts of the people, the district has fundamentally brought the virus under control after more than three months, with nine green communes and six red communes, which are gradually becoming orange and yellow.
Can Giuoc Party Secretary Pham Van Bon said the district had implemented a range of measures, namely requesting local residents to stay where they are, determining the risk level in each area, detecting infected people, and stepping up vaccination to quickly contain the virus.
Ben Luc Chairman Tran Van Tuoi said the district is still imposing strict lockdown in areas with infected people. The district has also inoculated all of its adult residents with at least one dose of vaccine and second shots are being provided to about 25,000 workers staying at lodging houses before returning to work.
Four green-zone communes are being adequately protected while red-zone communes are turning orange, meaning a decreasing level of risk. As of September 14, the epidemic map has changed colour and the district has approved ten enterprises to resume operation.
Restoring production
Since the start of the latest outbreak, Long An Province has logged nearly 30,000 cases, with 350 deaths. To date, the Mekong Delta province has basically brought the virus under control, with no red zones remaining and 11 districts now denoted as green zones. Four districts currently denoted orange and yellow zones are also gradually turning green.
In order to protect green zones, districts, cities and towns, Long An Province is still imposing social distancing measures, asking local residents to remain in their districts until further notice.
Tan Tru District, a green zone, has gone through 14 days without new community cases and is implementing various measures to protect its positive result. Checkpoints have been set up at the boundary with other districts while Tan Tru has also gotten its first COVID-19 shots into the arms of 58,000 local residents.
Regarding the plan for restoring production, workers must be vaccinated with at least one dose and follow the “one route, two destinations” rule. Workers from outside the district must sleep over at the workplace. Enterprises are responsible for preventing the epidemic at their facilities and bear all epidemic control costs if outbreaks occur.
According to Long An Chairman Nguyen Van Ut, the province has completed administering the first dose for nearly 1.4 million residents aged 18 and above, and over 8% of the adult population have been fully vaccinated.
The province currently has no red zones while Tan An City, Duc Hoa District and Ben Luc District have turned orange and are expected to become green soon.
Many enterprises have registered to resume operation alongside measures to ensure safety against COVID-19. The province is scheduled to allow enterprises that meet epidemic prevention requirements to restart after September 15.
