On the morning of March 8, 2002, the National Steering Committee for prevention of acute respiratory infections caused by the new strain of Corona virus (Covid-19) met under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the Steering Committee.
On March 8, the National Steering Committee of Vietnam on the prevention of new strain of corona virus, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dam, asked the Vietnamese people to make health declarations from March 10.
The above directive was issued in the context of a sudden increase in the number of cases in Vietnam, up to 34 people, according to the latest information from the Ministry of Health updated at 18:00 of March 10 and this number will be increase by hour.
Among those newly infected with Covid-19, 12 were passengers traveling on the same flight with the 17th infected person, a girl who went to Hanoi from Europe on 2 March and was found positive for the virus on March 6 and 2 people in close contact with patient 17 when he returned to Vietnam. Hundreds of people who have been exposed to the aforementioned cases are currently in quarantine or health monitoring.
Earlier, for weeks, Vietnam did not have any cases after the first 16 people infected with the new strain of coronavirus were cured.
According to Mr. Dam, currently Vietnam has made mandatory medical declarations for everyone who enters Vietnam, but that is not enough, it is necessary to deploy medical declarations for all Vietnamese people. This is not only a responsibility to fight against epidemics but also a specific action for all Vietnamese to join hands, unite and whole the people to fight against the epidemic. The declared information must be strictly managed, only serving against epidemics, not used for other purposes.
The DPM asked the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Health, Vietnam Social Insurance, network operators and information technology units to urgently complete the organization plan and technological tools to be slow especially from the morning of March 10 make a declaration of the entire people’s health nationwide.
The March 8 meeting of the National Steering Committee for the Prevention of Acute Inflammatory Inflammatory Diseases caused by the new strain of Corona virus (Covid-19) also proposed new regulations on entry.
The Steering Committee discussed and agreed recommendations with the Prime Minister, the Government suspended the unilateral visa exemption with countries of the European Union (EU) and the UK.
In addition, the Steering Committee also proposed to suspend or refuse to issue visas to people from other countries with more than 500 cases, or more than 50 cases increased in a day.
At the same time, the Steering Committee also proposed refusing to grant visas for foreigners entering Vietnam if there are symptoms and epidemiological factors as prescribed.
Dam proposed to strengthen measures to prevent and recommend Vietnamese people to minimize the amount of Vietnamese people going abroad or through countries where people infected with Covid-19, travel only when really needed, and must be fully equipped with knowledge to ensure safety before going, when traveling abroad, after returning to Vietnam.
On March 9 morning, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a Government Standing Committee meeting to hear the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control reporting. The recommendations of the Steering Committee on epidemic prevention and control have been approved by the PM.
The PM agreed on restricting meetings, gathering large numbers of people, not organizing unnecessary meetings, increasing the use of information technology, strongly applying technologies in meetings, directing and administering and studying. , electronic declarations, TV teaching …
According to the PM, Vietnam has wide and deep international integration, so the source of infection is diverse, so drastic, strong, synchronous and timely measures are needed to effectively prevent the source of infection as well as strict handling of concealed cases.
The PM agreed to unilaterally suspend visa exemption for 8 European countries including Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, England, Germany, France and Spain; Agreeing with the recommendations of the Steering Committee of ministries, branches and localities, temporarily not sending cadres to study or work abroad, except for special cases permitted by the PM.
The PM noted that in order to successfully combat the epidemic and protect people’s health and lives, “some economic benefits may be sacrificed.”
New regulations on universal health reporting are being rapidly implemented on a large scale and are receiving various opinions from the public.
Universal health declarations can be made through the NCOVI and Vietnam Health Declaration application. NCOVI is not yet officially available on the app market, while the Vietnam Health Declaration is now available for Android.
The function “Declaration of medical entry” of NCOVI application applies to people who come from epidemic areas, have contacted patients or suspected infections, thereby helping this target group to receive timely assistance from the medical authorities.
Meanwhile, the “Universal Health Declaration” function allows people to register health information for themselves and their family members with health authorities. People will declare personal information of themselves and their families, including full name, identification number, social insurance code, nationality, gender, and contact information.
After the declaration, the user will self-assess the health status, fill in the survey form and send in the notification information to complete.
This information will be kept confidential and strictly managed, used only for the purpose of supporting the community. Based on the data this application sends, the health system will know the cases that need attention to support as quickly and effectively as possible.
Regarding the regulations on universal health declaration, doctor Tran Tuan, an independent expert who often criticizes the health field, made a comment to VOA that mandatory health declaration will have a lot of errors right now: “The process of gathering information and controlling the errors of information is extremely difficult, so it will lead to results that will be difficult to draw recommendations in accordance with reality.”
Many Vietnamese people expressed on social media their support for the government’s tightening measures to fight the epidemic, even sharing messages such as “Stay still when the country needs it,” implying that people need to avoid traveling, trading, gathering crowds …
Meanwhile, some experts and intellectuals think that the way to prevent corona virus disease is spreading by means of blockade or seclusion of ports will cause great damage in many aspects. Therefore, Vietnam should “live with the floods.”
Dr. Vu Tu Thanh of the US-ASEAN Economic Council on March 8 published a long article on his personal page, proposing a new strategy for Vietnam to deal with the epidemic, supported by hundreds of people.
The doctor, who studied and researched in the US, said that measures to prevent the epidemic and prevent the spread of disease proved effective in phase 1, when the risk mainly came from China, now no longer fit.
Pointing out that in the second phase of the current situation, the situation has changed “worse” with the fact that the disease is spreading globally, Dr. Thanh warned that “secluded retreat” will cause the economy to operate. The action is based entirely on what can be stored or can be self-sufficient, but raw materials and resources will “soon run out“, forcing the whole society to operate at a “minimum consumption just to maintain existence.”
Any extreme measure will not bring about absolute efficiency at this stage, but a harmonious combination of measures is needed.
The solution Dr. Thanh proposed is that only “isolation protects the highest risk group including the elderly, people with underlying disease or both” and “preventive isolation is only applied to infected cases.”
At the same time, according to Mr. Thanh, “not applying seclusion in retreat“, but only “maintaining mandatory declaration and medical screening at the border gate.”
Dr. Thanh’s proposal was supported by many intellectuals, calling it a solution “living with floods.”
While the whole population has raised their awareness about epidemic prevention, in the past, the scandal of the No. 17 patient has lifted the curtain on the luxurious life of the elite party members in Vietnam: taking a high-class plane, staying in luxury hotels while the whole population has raised their awareness about epidemic prevention, in the past, the scandal of the No. 17 patient has lifted the curtain on the luxurious life of the elite party members in Vietnam: taking a high-class plane, staying 5-star hotel, banquet, … Math Doctor Nguyen Ngoc Chu has called foreign trips a form of corruption enjoyed by the communist officials in Vietnam.
Hoang Trung from Ha Noi – Thoibao.de (translated)
