Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has called on all citizens to join hands in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic by strictly observing preventive measures, including installing Covid-19 tracking apps. 

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (middle) presides over a meeting of
the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and
Control on August 9, 2020. Photo: VGP

Addressing a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control this afternoon, Dam asked press agencies to step up information dissemination to ensure that citizens wear facemasks, refrain from going outside if not necessary, keep safe distance from each other.

Citizens need to comply with instructions on online health declaration and download such apps like NCOVI and Bluezone to help front-liners in this fight, considering it as the responsibility of each person for their families and communities.

As of 6:10 pm on Sunday, Viet Nam confirmed 841 Covid-19 cases, including 395 recovered cases and 11 fatalities.

Since July 23, the country reported 397 new Covid-19 patients, of whom 42 are imported cases and 355 others are community transmitted cases.

The Ministry of Health said the Covid-19 hot spot in Da Nang has spread quickly with at least 19 health workers having been confirmed positive for the virus.

At present, the Covid-19 hot spot has been put under control thanks to drastic and effective efforts, said Tran Dac Phu, senior advisor at the Public Health Emergency Operations Center under the Health Ministry.

However, the pandemic remains complicated both inside and outside the country, thus all localities must stay vigilant, Phu stressed.

Phu suggested localities need to accelerate contract-tracing of people with travel records to Da Nang while acting Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long called for expanding scope of testing to quickly detect infection cases./.