Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam called for sustaining vigilance against COVID-19 though the number of daily infection cases tends to decrease over the past four days. 

Dam stressed the point at the meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Saturday.

He ordered localities to continue strict borders control and regular inspection of concentrated quarantine sites, especially facilities designated for people entering Viet Nam via land.

Regarding lessons learnt from the third wave of local transmissions, Dam also ordered all localities to get ready for all outbreaks in crowded areas because every minute counts.

Once a new outbreak is identified, testing capacity is extremely important, emphasized Dam, adding that the Ministry of Health needs to instruct provinces and cities to ensure pace of contract tracing and diagnosis right from the first day.

Dam, who is head of the Steering Committee, called on citizens to maintain vigilance and seriously implement the Ministry of Health’s 5K message: khau trang (facemask), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering) and khai bao y te (health declaration).

He took the occasion to appreciate the great efforts exerted by front liners, including health workers from central to grass-root levels, in the fight against COVID-19, thereby helping to basically control the pandemic.

As of 6:05pm on Saturday, Viet Nam confirmed 2,195 COVID-19 patients, including 604 cases in 13 cities and provinces since January 27 when the third wave of local transmissions began. 

Dang Quang Tan, Director-General of the ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine said Viet Nam reported 15 local cases on average in 12 out of 13 provinces and cities over the past two weeks.

The infection rate tends to fall over the recent days, with six provinces and cities recording zero new cases and the latest confirmed cases are all residents in lockdown areas or have been sent to concentrated quarantine facilities, he added./.