HCM City strives to ensure warm Tet festival amidst COVID-19

Ho Chi Minh City will work hard to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, maintain socio-economic development and ensure a happy Tet (Lunar New Year) festival for its residents, heard a meeting on February 2.

Speaking at the meeting of the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, Nguyen Tan Binh, Director of the city Department of Health, said as of February 2, the southern metropolis had registered 168 COVID-19 cases, including 33 local infections.

As of 10:00 on the day, the city conducted tests for 714 people who came from pandemic-hit areas, and those having close contact with newly-detected community transmission cases - Patients No. 1660, 1801, 1843, he said, most of the results turned out negative once.   

The local health sector also collected samples of nearly 11,250 others for testing, with all of the results negative.

According to Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the Tourism Department, another three hotels in the city have been converted into quarantine facilities, raising the total number of designated quarantine hotels to 32 with 2,500 rooms. As many as 29 other hotels are ready to serve the quarantine work.

Tran Luu Quang, Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee, urged competent forces to tighten supervision over transportation activities to curb the COVID-19 spread.

Secretary of the Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen said the pandemic is likely to develop more complicatedly and unexpectedly, asking departments and districts to seriously follow the Government’s instructions in the fight.

He ordered stepping up the communications work to raise public awareness of the epidemic, and mobilize joint efforts in the combat.