In the past three days, the number of nCoV infections in the Chinese capital increased to nearly 80, mainly due to community transmission, originating from a fresh food market.
Mr. Tran Dac Phu, Senior Advisor of the Vietnam Public Health Event Emergency Response Center, assessed that `the resurgence of Covid-19 in Beijing is a lesson`.
`In this situation, we must strictly implement surveillance and epidemic prevention guidelines, so that Vietnam does not have a repeat outbreak,` he said.
The epidemic in Beijing has characteristics similar to those in Vietnam recently.
Mr. Phu commented that `local authorities in some places and people have shown signs of being subjective and indifferent to the epidemic` such as no longer wearing masks in risky areas and not regularly washing hands with antiseptics.
In terms of nature, the epidemic in Beijing is almost similar to Vietnam in recent times, with no strong outbreaks, but small outbreaks that can be extinguished immediately.
Recently, on June 13, Vietnam recorded a case of nCoV infection, a person who traveled to China in January and returned to Quang Ninh at the end of May. `This shows that Vietnam needs to be more vigilant about sources of infection.`
Mr. Tran Dac Phu.
To fight the epidemic from outside, `it is necessary to maintain and do a good job of protecting the borders`, that is, controlling people entering the country, immediately centralized quarantine, and timely screening tests.
In response to proposals to reopen trade and tourism, Mr. Phu assessed that `international flights can be reopened, but it is important to manage people`.
Centralized quarantine is also more difficult now, according to Vietnam’s leading epidemiological expert.
`It is necessary to see if Vietnam has enough capacity to respond to epidemic prevention when international flights reopen,` he said.
Le Nga – Chi Nguyen
