Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired an online meeting on August 19 night between permanent Government members and authorities of Ho Chi Minh City and adjacent Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces which are witnessing complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired an online meeting on August 19 night between permanent Government members and authorities of Ho Chi Minh City and adjacent Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces which are witnessing complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting agreed that the complex situation in those localities is partly attributable to the highly contagious Delta variant while the density of population in the above localities is high, but another reason is social distancing measures have not been enforced strictly enough.

Leaders of ministries, agencies and localities suggested several measures such as continuing with strict social distancing measures, setting up more mobile medical stations and temporary COVID-19 treatment hospitals, expanding the capacity of existing medical facilities, establishing working teams to provide food and necessities for residents.

Localities also proposed the Government, ministries and agencies concerned send more personnel, especially medical workers for Ho Chi Minh City and the nearby provinces, add more groups eligible for support policies, and provide more medical equipment and vaccines for those in high-risk areas.

Concluding the event, the PM basically agreed with the proposals and assigned tasks to Deputy PMs and leaders of ministries, agencies and localities.

He required the localities to extend the enforcement of social distancing measures for at least two more weeks, with the level of strictness depending on the real situation in each locality.

The PM stressed that health care, logistics work, social security and social order must be ensured right at the grassroots level to meet the needs of every resident in their daily life as well as for medical care.

On the occasion, he called on the entire country to join hands with Ho Chi Minh City and adjacent provinces to combat the pandemic. Ministries, agencies and the localities were required to build their own detailed plans to meet the ultimate goal of ensuring people’s health and lives./.