Measures should be flexibly and continually implemented in Binh Duong province for the dual target

In the morning of June 27, the government's delegation led by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a working session with Binh Duong provincial Party Committee and People's Committee on the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control and solutions to promote production and business operations in the last 6 months of 2021. Accompanying the delegation were Standing Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and representatives of central ministries, departments and branches. On the side of Binh Duong province, receiving and working with the delegation were Mr. Tran Van Nam, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, Mr. Vo Van Minh, Standing Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thao, Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, members of the Standing Committee of the provincial Party Committee, leaders of the People's Council, People's Committee and relevant departments and branches.

Resources gathered, infection sources cut off

Reporting to the Prime Minister and the delegation, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thao said that Binh Duong currently has 50,000 businesses with more than 1.2 million employees from most provinces and cities in the nation. Since the 4th outbreak (from May 27 to now), Binh Duong has recorded 262 cases of Covid-19 infection in the community. From June 1, the disease has occurred in a number of companies interwoven with dormitories crowded with workers, so the spread has been fast and potentially of high risks. However, the provincial authority is still controlling the epidemic situation and focusing on solutions to prevent the disease from spreading into industrial parks.

Along with that, Binh Duong is a locality adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City and 3 neighboring provinces with a lot of people commuting and trading daily, especially workers and laborers working in the industrial areas in the province; the potential risk of infectiono cases entering Binh Duong is very high. Through epidemiological investigation from the 4th outbreak in Binh Duong, it was found that these cases were detected mainly in 8 outbreaks originating from outbreaks in Ho Chi Minh city with the Delta variant of the virus.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is speaking at a meeting with Binh Duong provincial Party Committee and People's Committee on the prevention and control of Covid-19 epidemic and solutions to promote production and business in the last 6 months of the year 2021

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thao added that the province is currently implementing many measures and resources to respond to the epidemic situation. The province currently has 34 concentrated quarantine facilities with 10,000 beds ready to receive immediate quarantine and is in fact for 3,000 F1 cases. The province is expanding to 20,000 beds and increasing to 30,000 beds when there needed. Regarding testing for Covid-19, the province has the capacity to test over 5,000 single samples or 50,000 group samples a day. Currently, the province is also implementing socialization of testing to improve capacity to over 100,000 samples a day by establishing 200 mobile sampling teams to ensure rapid sampling on a large scale along with equipping rapid antigen tests for all medical examination and treatment facilities.

Regarding treatment, the number of hospital beds in the province can accommodate 600 people under treatments. The province has established a new treatment area in Tan Uyen town under the provincial General Hospital management with a scale of 200 beds and is expected to expand some areas to 1,000 beds. Regarding Covid-19 vaccination, the province has organized 3 vaccination sessions for 43,432 people. The province proposed the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health and central agencies to direct and support the province to apply science and technology to all stages of disease prevention and control to ensure timely and effective measures. Ministry of Health directs and provides professional support in disease handling in industrial parks, support in terms of equipment, biological products and testing for the province in case the disease may occur on a large scale, and mobilize human resources to support if the epidemic situation continues to spread and the number of infected people may increase.

Implementation of dual target

With efforts to realize the "dual target" of ensuring the prevention and control of Covid-19 and fulfilling the socio-economic growth targets, Binh Duong has kept on to achieve positive results. Gross social product (GRDP) in the first 6 months of 2021 increased by 7.23% over the same period in 2020 (in the same period, it increased by 6.73%). Despite many difficulties, businesses have been proactive in sourcing raw materials, changing approaches, and introducing products, so they have received larger orders. Beside the stable production enterprises, there are 637 new industrial enterprises in operation. Industrial production continued to grow steadily. The industrial production index in the first 6 months of the year was estimated to increase by 8.23% over the same period in 2020. Export turnover was estimated at more than USD 17 billion, increasing by 47.2% over the same period in 2020. Up to now, the whole province has 3,982 foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of USD 36.79 billion.

Regarding the tasks of the last 6 months of the year, the province strives to complete the development plan for 2021 with the key solutions to consistently implement the "dual target" of preventing and controlling the epidemic and promoting socio-economic development; to focus on removing difficulties for production and business by promoting economic growth and developing sectors and fields; to actively develop plans and scenarios to respond to arising situations; to accelerate the attraction and disbursement of social investment capital and public investment capital; and to take care of people's lives, especially those affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.

To ensure the goal of socio-economic growth, Binh Duong is mobilizing and calling for investment resources to support transport infrastructure development projects; research and investment plans are implemented for the construction of Vanh Dai 3, Vanh Dai 4, and Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh highways. Binh Duong proposed the government to approve the project to renovate and expand National Highway 13 and the project to create landscapes and prevent traffic jams on My Phuoc - Tan Van Highway. In addition to efforts to maintain economic growth, Binh Duong ensures that there would be no disease outbreak on a large scale in industrial parks and clusters in the area.

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated Binh Duong's achievements in disease prevention and control, socio-economic development, defense and security in the first 6 months of the year 2021. Economic growth targets have been all achieved. Budget revenue targets and people's lives have not been affected much by the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. Social security policies are well maintained, especially for poor households. According to the Prime Minister, this is the bright spot of Binh Duong in the first 6 months of the year. However, the Prime Minister emphasized that Binh Duong needs to pay attention to the epidemic prevention as there are still many cases of infections; some clusters of infections have no source of infection making it difficult to control and expose spread into industrial parks. Therefore, the province needs to focus on developing a plan for disease prevention and control in industrial parks.

According to the Prime Minister, the current situation in the area is that many F0 cases are still unidentified, so the epidemic is still complicated. If the province cannot control the epidemic, it will affect the socio-economic development in the last 6 months of the year. Therefore, Binh Duong must develop a plan to well control the epidemic situation. The province needs to effectively fight the epidemic, prevent and repel, and not to let the disease spread in the industrial parks; to ensure social security and strive to fulfill the goals set by the provincial Party Congress, contributing to political stability, social order and safety, and at the same time focus on the upcoming high school graduation examination.

In order to achieve the overall goals well, Binh Duong needs to be flexible, creative, and proactive in terms of giving solutions depending on the actual situation. When there is no herd immunity, we must not be subjective, let our guard down and be negligent, but we must harmoniously combine the prevention and control with "5K" message and vaccines. The province needs to prepare higher scenarios so as not to be confused; should strictly manage quarantine areas to prevent cross-infection; should clearly identify the areas that need to be quarantined for immediate blockade, social distancing or normal activities. The province also needs to study to change the quarantine strategy into F1 home isolation in accordance with the process and regulations.

By reporters – Translated by Vi Bao