Strengthening management of mobile and migrant populations

Vu Tri Hai, Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, said that on Saturday (February 1), the committee had an urgent meeting to implement the disease prevention and combat task. 

Bac Giang city Health Center’s staff spray disinfectants in Le Loi ward.

Together with the immediate promulgation of plans and the establishment of a Steering Committee for disease prevention and control, the municipal People's Committee has directed relevant agencies, especially the police force, to coordinate with wards and communes in ascertaining mobile and migrant populations; and with other competent forces in inspecting medicine and medical equipment trading establishments in the area in order to promptly handle violations.

By February 5, 45 foreigners had arrived in Bac Giang city, including 38 Chinese nationals. Two from China’s Hubei province have been isolated and closely monitored.

In the immediate future, the city will allocate 1.2 billion VND (51,688 USD) from its budget for epidemic prevention and control. It considers the communication work to raise awareness of officials, Party members and people of all classes as a focus, while regularly broadcasting epidemic prevention and control programmes and the Ministry of Health’s recommendations, distributing 50,000 leaflets on measures to keep hygiene and prevent the disease to each household, and pasting up instructions on how to prevent the virus in classrooms.

At the same time, the Chairman of the municipal People's Committee has urged non-public hospitals and clinics in the locality to actively coordinate with the city's agencies and units in implementing the epidemic prevention and control plans; stay ready to create the most favorable conditions for the guidance and mobilization of human resources, facilities, equipment for epidemic prevention and control.

Many forces join in the anti-nCoV effort

Surveys in a number of wards, communes, agencies, units and schools in the city show that the disease prevention and combat have been implemented quickly, proactively and seriously.

Teachers of the provincial Ethnic Boarding School launch a sanitation campaign to prevent the epidemic.

Along with competent agencies, taking advantage of the time when students are absent, officials and teachers of many schools in the city have cleaned classrooms and sterilized the campuses with a spirit of proactive prevention.

At the provincial Ethnic Boarding School, at 7am on February 5, many officials and teachers were present. After assigning tasks, each group of 3-5 people spread out to different areas to clean the classrooms, laboratories, dormitory, kitchen, canteen, toilets, and playgrounds as well as clear the drains, collect and treat garbage.

As ethnic students are far away, to facilitate the management and monitoring of their health, the school has directed head teachers to set up facebook and zalo groups of their classes, requesting students to update and report their daily situation. In cases when students cannot connect to the Internet, the teachers must contact their families or localities.

The Tran Phu, Ngo Si Lien and Hoang Van Thu Secondary Schools; the Le Loi and Da Mai Preschools have also mobilized all school officials, teachers and other staff members to clean the classrooms.

According to Nguyen Van Phai, deputy head of the city Department of Education and Training, the unit has assigned professional staff to be in charge of updating information continuously. It has directed principals to capture information about the epidemic prevention and control situation in their schools and make emergency reports when there are abnormal cases by phone to timely handle them.

A representative of the municipal Health Center said that amid the complicated development of the epidemic, the center has collaborated with relevant units, wards and communes to organize training on prevention and control of the acute respiratory disease caused by nCoV for heads of health stations and those responsible for epidemic prevention and control of wards and communes; as well as the staff of the center. At the same time, it has proactively reviewed conditions on human resources, supplies and medical equipment in service of epidemic prevention and control.

In order to join hands with the community in the prevention and control of the acute respiratory disease caused by nCoV, in recent days, some drug stores in the city have provided free medical masks for the people. 

The Phan Anh Medical Materials Joint Stock Company, based at 28 Hung Vuong 3 street, Le Loi ward, presented about 6,500 masks and hundreds of bottles of saline for oral hygiene to units such as the provincial General Hospital, the provincial Women’s and Children Hospital and the one-stop-shop section of the city.

By this time, the wards and communes in the city have implemented plans to prevent and control the disease such as spraying disinfectant chemicals and distributing leaflets to households. 

The city has also directed agencies at all levels, sectors, units, wards and communes to not be neglected and subjective in the epidemic prevention, identifying this as an urgent and focal task with the motto of "fighting the epidemic like fighting the enemy".

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Group of reporters