Top Vietnamese leaders convened a meeting on Tuesday to review COVID-19 pandemic situation and enforcement of urgent preventive measures in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Photo: VGP

Present at the meeting includes Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, and standing member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat Vo Van Thuong.

The leaders appreciated the engagement of competent agencies, localities and mass organizations, contributions of people and business community, and assistance from international friends and overseas Vietnamese to the fight against the pandemic.

As the pandemic is forecast to remain complicated and may last long, particularly in southern localities, the leaders agreed to assign Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh as Head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Secretaries of provincial/municipal Party Committees shall be responsible for directly providing guidance for COVID-19 fight in their localities, quickly working out scenarios for COVID-19 prevention in line with the new situation, and ensuring that the virus will not spread to major urban areas and industrial parks.

Localities must steer resources to protect people’s health and lives, minimize death rate, ensure strict enforcement of social distancing rules, and timely provide food and other necessary support for residents in areas placed under social distancing.

As of 6:30 pm on Tuesday, Viet Nam confirmed 369,267 infection cases, including 162,279 recoveries and 9,014 deaths./.