At the government meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed great efforts by agencies of all levels in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the PM, Vietnam had basically controlled the pandemic. He, however, added that preventive measures still need to be strictly carried out as the disease remains complicated in many countries.
The government leader instructed to continue quarantine measures for people who enter Vietnam from abroad, including experts of foreign companies in Vietnam. Meanwhile, social distancing regulations will be gradually relaxed based on the pandemic situation.
Phuc also asked concerned agencies to remove restrictions on the export of face masks and medical equipment.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc allowed the export of medical face masks and protective clothing. These products could only be exported to countries that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, medical masks were only permitted for export for the purpose of international aid and assistance and no more than 25% of the country’s output of medical masks could be exported, while the remaining 75% had to be held for national Covid-19 prevention.
Adding to the Ministry of Finance, Vietnamese mask capacity has been raised to around 13 million per day, including seven million medical masks and the remainder being antibacterial cloth masks. So the restrictions should be lifted.
Le Trong Hai, chairman of Danameco Medical Joint Stock Corporation, said the company had invested in dozens of new face mask production lines, raising the company’s total capacity to 8 million per day from May 15, including seven million medical masks and one million N95 masks.
However, his firm’s export faced difficulties due to these restrictions. Meanwhile, face masks were being sold to the domestic market at prices much lower than those exported, Hai noted.
