That was the affirmation of Dr. Ngo Thi Kim Yen – Director of the City Department of Health at a Talk-show on providing information related to the prevention of and response to acute pneumonia due to novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) to the people and tourists in Da Nang at noon of the 4th day of Tet (28th January) held by Da Nang TV. The participants included Dr. Ngo Thi Kim Yen – Director of the Department of Health, Ms. Truong Thi Hong Hanh – Director of the Department of Tourism, and Colonel Tran Dinh Lien – Vice Director of the City’s Public Security.
According to Dr. Ngo Thi Kim Yen, during the past few days, the Department of Health required the Center for Disease Control to strictly control the entrance of passengers at border-gates of airports and seaports; immediately activate the systems of disease prevention, strengthen community supervision, efficiently implement the procedures of isolation settlement; also, to carry out re-division of isolation zones for patients with fever, take patients with fever who are suspected to be infected with COVID-19 to the Da Nang Hospital for Lung Diseases and implement the model of field hospitals with more than 10,000 medical staff who are ready for participating in prevention and fighting of the epidemic. In addition, the Da Nang Hospital and Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children must strengthen the control of bacterial infection at hospitals and not let the epidemic spread within medical clinics.
As of 8.00am on 28th January (the 4th day of Tet), Da Nang acknowledged 37 suspected cases involving Coronavirus infection, the City’s medical sector sent the test samples to the Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang and received the results which were negative for COVID-19. At present, all of them have been following treatment at the hospital for normal respiratory infections.
“This is a dangerous infectious disease spreading from person to person through close contact or saliva with no special treatment medicine. The incubation period takes 14 days. Therefore, early recognition of the first case is very important. We need to continue to strictly supervise cases of the people and tourists with signs of fever and coughing at airports and public places” – Dr. Yen emphasized.
Ms. Truong Thi Hong Hanh, Vice Director of the Department of Tourism said that, on the occasion of Tet this year, Da Nang welcomed nearly 335,000 turns of visitors. Of which, the number of domestic visitors decreased by 25-35% due to fear of the epidemic situation. The Department of Tourism sent official documents to travel companies to require them to suspend welcoming visitors from epidemic zones to Da Nang and vice versa. Also, the local people have been required to not discriminate against visitors and show their civilized behaviors to build safe and friendly images of Da Nang City.
In the coming time, the Department of Tourism would diversify the market of tourists due to the impact of ceasing airways with China and would instead attract tourists from Europe and North America. The Department shall strengthen cooperation with the Immigration Department – Ministry of Public Security and the Border Defense force to strictly control the number of tourists entering the City, with the determination of protecting the safety of Da Nang City.
As stated by Colonel Tran Dinh Lien – Vice Director of Da Nang City’s Public Security, together with the direction of the police at wards and communes to strictly manage foreigners in the region, and dissemination of preventing and fighting the epidemic to resident groups, the City’s Public Security actively cooperated with aviation and road agencies to strengthen the supervision at the international airport and seaport in which there are lots of commercial transaction activities to reduce the risk of spreading the epidemic in the community. Also, he recommended the people to fully comply with preventive measures as recommended by the medical sector and get regular updates of information about the epidemic situation from official media, to immediately stop confusing the public by posting incorrect news on social networks, in order to guarantee order and security in the City upon any occurrence of unfortunate circumstances.
Towards the complicated situation of the epidemic, the City’s medical sector affirmed that Da Nang would not hide the infected, upon recognition of any cases positive with COVID-19, the government would announce to the people and immediately report to the Ministry of Health for assistance. The City People’s Committee decided to invest an amount of 20 billion VND to serve the treatment, provision of antiseptics, equipment, facilities and methods effectively meeting the requirement of the epidemic situation; required departments, agencies and localities to enhance measures on preventing and fighting the epidemic in the spirit of protecting the people’s health as the highest priority.
The medical sector recommends the people to wear medical masks in the correct way. To improve health, the people should eat well-cooked food, rest in cool and ventilated places, wash hands with soap; come to medical clinics for medical examination and treatment when symptoms of fever, coughing, etc. show, reduce traveling, and should not gather at crowded places. Especially, the people must keep up to date on verified information and be fully aware of the procedures for epidemic prevention and fighting and personal protection according to recommendations as specified by the medical sector.
CONG TAM
