Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has requested authorities to give the top priority to localising and soon wiping out the COVID-19 hotbed in the central city of Da Nang.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (middle) at the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Chairing a meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Hanoi on July 31, Dam, who is also head of the committee, lauded the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of National Defence and Ministry of Health for sending more experts and staff to join in the fight against the pandemic in Da Nang.

As new infection cases are mostly related to three hospitals in the city, he asked localities, especially major cities, to strengthen countermeasures.

Amid the rapid and complicated developments of the pandemic worldwide, members of the committee agreed to suggest the PM issue a document ordering preparedness in the new normal period in case of outbreaks like in Da Nang.

The Ministry of Education and Training was also required to prepare plans for the upcoming high school graduation examination in line with the Prime Minister’s Directive 16/CT-TTg.

At the event, Director of the Health Ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine Dang Quang Tan said as of 7pm on July 31, Vietnam recorded 546 infection cases, including one death, a 70-year-old man residing in Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam.

Acting Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the pandemic in Da Nang is relatively complicated because infection source remains unknown.

As many patients there also suffer other severe diseases, the Health Ministry has deployed the best equipment and staff to the locality, he said, adding that testing capacity has also been raised to 10,000 samples per day.

According to him, the ministry established a special permanent unit in charge of COVID-19 combat in the city, continued tracing down those travelling to and from Da Nang and its hospitals, as well as collecting samples for testing. Over 451,400 Realtime RT-PCR tests have been carried out nationwide so far.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc said the 2020 high school graduation examination is still on schedule for August 8-10.

He added that the Ministry of Education and Training will continue working closely with the Health Ministry and localities to ensure the exam amid the pandemic.

About the repatriation of Vietnamese citizens from abroad, Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung said the Foreign Ministry coordinated with representative Vietnamese agencies abroad and domestic authorities to arrange flights for prioritised citizens, including 219 from Equatorial Guinea on July 29 who were immediately sent to the second branch of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi’s outlying district of Dong Anh for testing and treatment.

Other flights also carried home 212 citizens from Indonesia on July 29, 170 others from Brunei on July 29, about 290 from the US on July 3, and 240 from Myanmar on July 30