New COVID-19 strain not yet found among legal immigrants in Vietnam

Hoang Minh Duc, deputy head of the General Department of Preventive Medicine, said at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control that Vietnam has gone through 24 straight days without any coronavirus infections in the community.

The total cases of COVID-19 in the country stand at 1,439, he said, adding that Vietnam has basically contained the pandemic.

However, imported cases of COVID-19 have still been recorded from flights bringing overseas Vietnamese home or foreign experts to Vietnam, Duc said. Therefore, the country faces the risk of the pandemic recurrence, especially during the New Year holidays when the demand for home returning increases.

Presiding over the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the committee, called for the joint resolve to preserve achievements in the pandemic combat as long as possible, in order to ensure safe and happy New Year holidays.

He suggested strengthening pandemic prevention measures, saying border guards, as well as police, authorities and people in border areas need to carry forward their role and responsibility during the pandemic fight.

All immigrants to Vietnam must present their quarantine plans before entering Vietnam, Dam requested.

Apart from medical centres, schools and lodging facilities, it is necessary to step up COVID-19 prevention and control measures at markets, commercial centres, places of worship, notably public transport means, he went on.

Dam asked competent forces to enhance inspections and the communication work, explaining that after days without locally-transmitted infections, people would let their guard down./.