HCM City projects to receive 17,000 from high-risk areas

HCM City authorities are expected to receive up to 17,000 people arriving from virus-hit areas in the next 10 days.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of HCM City People's Committee

On March 19, Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of HCM City People's Committee, said during a meeting with the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Control and Prevention that the city is expected and ready to receive and quarantine 17,000 people when they return to Vietnam. He has asked relevant agencies to calculate the required quarantine areas, the personnel and resources.

"We have calculated the expected number of beds and people for 10 days and will direct the flow of people to different quarantine areas. Right now, we'll use the quarantine area at the Vietnam National University, HCM City to its full capacity," he said.

The Department of Industry and Trade will work with Saigon Co.op to prepare food and other necessities for the quarantines areas and the citizens in case the outbreak spread. Department of Transport has worked with SAMCO to use 30 buses to carry people to quarantine areas in the city and neighbouring provinces. They may use medical students, retired doctors and volunteers to fight the outbreak.

The Department of Health will continue to give statistics on the number of flights and people that are expected to arrive in HCM City to calculate the number of beds and equipment. Up to 23,698 beds have been readied at military bases, hotels and student dormitories. 1,000 beds are at the dormitories of the Vietnam National University. Each day, the city prepares 2,000 more beds to ensure that 20,000 beds will be ready on March 27.

Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the Department of Health, said people shouldn't go out at night if it is not an emergency. "The next two weeks will be important to the fight in Vietnam," he said.

As of now, 2,000 beds for treatment and 3,000 test kits have been readied for widespread testing. In March, the authorities will prepare 10,000 more test kits to test people with close contact with the confirmed and people returned from high-risk areas.

The Department of Health has made different plans for different stages of an outbreak when there are 500 to 2,000 confirmed cases.