Hanoi will remove 22 checkpoints at the entrances to the capital city after more than three months in operation.
This is one of the contents of the Official Dispatch 22 signed and promulgated by the Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, Chu Ngoc Anh, on October 20.
Hanoi requires local authorities at all levels to guarantee the smooth circulation of people and commodities. The completion of concentrated isolation must be guaranteed for the sake of restoring and developing production.
Functional force on duty at Phap Van checkpoint on social distancing days in Hanoi. Photo: Ngoc Tu |
Along with removing the checkpoints, the Hanoi mayor assigned the city police to lead the cross-functional coordination over the medical supervision and control at airports, railway stations, bus stations, with the focus on people and vehicles returning from pandemic areas.
The city police will take charge of updating information on residence management, health information, and movement of people in the area.
Tran Dac Phu, a senior advisor at the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, told The Hanoi Times that in spite of ceasing the operation of the checkpoints, the capital city should continue to supervise people returning from very high-risk and high-risk areas, to early detect and isolate infection sources.
“Besides, Hanoi must keep rolling out vaccination plan, giving priority to the second dose administration for people over 50 years old, pregnant women, workers in industrial parks and export processing, shippers, transporters, teachers, people working in areas with a high risk of infection such as shopping centers, supermarkets, among others,” Phu noted.
He stressed the city should vaccinate children under the age of 18 as soon as possible in accordance with instructions of the Ministry of Health, adding that people should not be negligent, but be always alerted and aware of the pandemic prevention.
Coronavirus-free areas (green zones)
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, 60/63 provinces and cities have completed the assessment as of October 20 night and announced the level of Covid-19 infection under the guidance of the Vietnamese Government.
Among them, 26 are at level 1, considered a safe zone or green zone on a provincial scale. Across the country, only Binh Duong was identified as an orange and high-risk zone. Some 33 provinces and cities are medium-risk zones, including Ho Chi Minh City.
The number of new Covid-19 cases detected in the community per 100,000 people per week is approximately 0.025, meeting requirements for being classified in level 1 of the four safety levels or safe zone.
However, in the green areas, at the district level, there are still yellow or orange and red wards and communes. These assessments are based on the criteria of incidence rate, vaccination rate, and the number of emergency beds in the locality.
A medical staff injects the Covid-19 vaccine for a woman aged over 50 in Nghia Tan Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi. Photo: Hoang Quan |
Particularly in Hanoi, the municipal Center for Disease Control (CDC) said the capital city has administered at least one dose of vaccine to 98% of its populace aged between 18 and 65.
Since the pandemic hit the country in late April, Hanoi has documented more than 4,350 Covid-19 cases, including over 1,600 cases in the community and nearly 2,800 in the quarantined centers, the municipal Health Department’s data shows.
As of October 21, 873,848 infections have so far been confirmed nationwide, including 796,583 recoveries and 21,416 fatalities, in 62 out of the country’s 63 cities and provinces, except Cao Bang.
Almost 3.8 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered nationwide on October 19 and 20. This is the highest number of injections since Vietnam started vaccinating in March 2021, bringing the total number of injections so far to nearly 70 million.
