The above proposal was said by the head of the Ministry of Health at an online meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City Anti-Epidemic Steering Committee on the morning of February 8, when mentioning that Ho Chi Minh City recorded 29 cases, of which 24 were suspected to be infected in the community.
Directive 16 was issued by the Prime Minister on March 31, 2020, applicable from April 1 to April 15, 2020 nationwide in the context of consecutive outbreaks in 23 provinces and cities, recording 137 patients.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Directive 16 has been applied from April 1 to April 22, 2020.
Go Vap district medical staff sprayed disinfectant and took samples for testing at the Felix Home apartment building, on the morning of February 8.
Mr. Long said that in the face of the epidemic spreading to the community, the city must raise its anti-epidemic efforts to a higher level, faster and more drastically to control it.
`In high-risk places where there are infected people, Directive 16 should be applied. That way we can go faster than the epidemic,` Mr. Long said, saying that whether to apply Directive 16 or not is decided by Ho Chi Minh City and the Ministry of Health.
Commenting on the epidemic situation in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Long said that the outbreak in the loading and unloading area at Tan Son Nhat airport existed before, and it is possible that some cases were infected but could not be detected.
`The epidemic in Ho Chi Minh City is quite complicated, it has gone through many cycles of infection, so the starting point of the chain of infection has not yet been determined. This is what makes us very worried,` Mr. Long said and thought it could be recorded.
29 cases of infected and suspected Covid-19 infection in Ho Chi Minh City are related to Tan Son Nhat airport staff.
Regarding Tan Son Nhat airport employees infected with Covid-19, the Minister of Health said that even though they do not come into contact with passengers, these people can interact in a very large city.
`There may be stevedores who were infected and recovered, `patient 1979, 2002` is not the first patient. Related cases must be traced. The city must quickly localize possible cases.
To speed up the testing process, according to the minister, Ho Chi Minh City needs to collect samples based on family clusters.
Leaders of the Ministry of Health also said they have agreed to coordinate a permanent department located at 51 Pham Ngoc Thach with a deputy minister of Health as the head of the department.
`The Ministry will provide maximum support for Ho Chi Minh City to handle this epidemic,` Mr. Long said.
In the past ten days, Ho Chi Minh City recorded 6 cases of infection, including one patient from Hai Duong and 5 patients who are employees of Tan Son Nhat airport;