Chairman of the Ha Noi municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung chaired an impromptu meeting of the Ha Noi Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control on February 23 in Ha Noi. 

The meeting was convened amidst new disease developments in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan, Iran, and Italy. 

According to Chairman Chung, the city is coping with high risks of infection due to high number of Korean arrivals to Ha Noi especially over the past 15-20 days. 

Positive quarantine

Deputy Director of the Health Department Hoang Duc Hanh was quoted as saying that as of early February 23, some countries experienced increasing number of infected cases including the RoK with 556 cases and four deaths; Singapore with 89 positive cases; Italy with 79 cases and two deaths. 

As of 3:00 PM, February 23, Ha Noi confirmed no positive cases. However, the city had 77 suspected cases which received negative test outcomes. 

The Deputy Director stressed the best measure of positive supervision and quarantine. 

The Department of Health suggested that it is necessary to categorize two types of people from the Republic of Korea to Ha Noi. The first is Koreans from infected areas. They should be isolated at their residences within 14 days. The second is Vietnamese people. These people must be isolated in certain areas within 14 days. 

Grass-roots levels including wards and communes should be requested to list people from infected areas and keep a close watch on them. Local people should be recommended to avoid infected areas. 

Chairman Chung tasked management boards of apartments to make the lists of foreign residents and apply hand washing before entering apartments. 

Cultural offices and police forces were asked to encourage people to avoid crowds especially bar clubs and karaoke restaurants./.

By Kim Loan