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On July 21, Dam, also Head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, had a working session with Ben Tre authorities on the fight against COVID-19 in the locale.
Speaking at the meeting, Dam stated that efficiency must be the top priority in epidemic prevention and control.
The biggest goal of Ben Tre is not to avoid an increase in the number of infections, so all stages must be stronger, earlier and more drastic, he stressed.
Deputy PM Dam said the immediate task is to use all solutions and all efforts to make Ben Tre a safe area as quickly as possible, so local forces should review each house and check each object to screen for infections, while strictly complying with regulations on implementing social distancing.
The main goal is that "green zones" must be maintained to let production resume in the "new normal" state without the recurrence of the disease, he said, adding that the testing capacity must be increased when an outbreak occurs.
Earlier, on the morning of the same day, Dam and his entourage were accompanied by local leaders to visit Ben Tre field hospital No. 1 at the Ben Tre Provincial Hospital for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and a concentrated isolation camp.
In Ho Chi Minh City on the same day, the municipal People’s Committee decided to set up concentrated quarantine facilities across its districts and Thu Duc city for COVID-19 patients who show no symptoms, to ease the pressure on hospitals amid the complicated developments of COVID-19 pandemic.
Those facilities will receive patients without clinical symptoms and underlying diseases and monitor their health so as to promptly discover abnormal symptoms likely to turn serious.
In a case where the condition of any patients worsens, the facilities must promptly put them on oxygen ventilators, and transfer them to hospitals for timely treatment.
Each facility must be equipped with all the necessary equipment and supplies to give emergency treatment to patients pending their transfer to hospital.
Meanwhile, in Hanoi, the capital city recorded 14 new infection cases as of this noon, bringing the total detected since early morning to 40.
Among the newly-recorded, nine were detected in the community and five in isolation camps across the city.
The cumulative number of infection cases in Hanoi during the 4th outbreak wave (from April 27) is 534, of which 321 have been in the community.
Also on July 21, the Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) announced a credit package worth nearly VND20 trillion with preferential interest rates to support people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 epidemic.
Specifically, for individual customers, MSB has reduced interest rates by up to 3%/year for customers borrowing capital for business operation and 1%/year for individual customers to borrow capital for agricultural production and house purchase. The programme is valid until December 31, 2021.
