Part 1: The nights without sleep

Recalling the stories in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, the "painful reds" on the Covid-19 infection map in the time when the epidemic gradually subsided, I still could feel the mixed pain of happiness to build a life full of trust and love once again.

Ms. Huynh Thi Thanh Phuong (in the middle), the Secretary of Thuan An town Party Committee, is present at the announcement of the green zone status of 4 communes in the city in September 2021

The chase

Thuan An city in the days of July was attributed by the most worrying thing and the most populous locality of the province - the Delta variant of SAR-CoV-2 appeared with a rapid spread to a large area in a short time. Many outbreaks were recorded in industrial zones, in residential markets, wholesale markets and crowded residential clusters. All worries poured into Thuan An city when the numbers of infection kept increasing. During 4 long months, Thuan An city was busier than ever as the whole political system, the people, and the army gathered all their spirit, strength, and force to prevent and repell the Covid-19 epidemic to soon return people's lives to normal.

The image of Ms. Huynh Thi Thanh Phuong, Secretary of Thuan An city Party Committee, being distressed when she discovered that a pregnant woman missed the bus picking up people back to Dak Lak, was haunting to many people's minds. At all costs, she directed the competent force to immediately bring the pregnant woman back to the bus that day. The outgoing and incoming phone calls and the relieved sigh as she watched the priority siren of the traffic police car carrying the pregnant woman to avoid missing the trip reminded us of humanity in the difficult times.

“The Covid-19 fight is an extremely fierce and unprecedented battle, we have fought with our own strength many times over. All officers, security forces, and armed forces fought hard. Following the footsteps of all walks of life, I highly appreciated the brave spirit, aggressiveness, unafraid of danger, and mutual support of frontline forces in the work of protection, health care, and necessities for the people. Many left behind their young children, old mothers, and weak fathers to be ready to go into the epidemic center together with comrades and teammates to complete the assigned tasks. Many examples of devotion, dedication and wholeheartedness for patients are admired and loved by the people,” said Ms. Huynh Thi Thanh Phuong, Secretary of Thuan An city Party Committee as the Head of Covid-19 prevention and control committee of Thuan An city.

Looking at her dark eyes after sleepless nights and the anxiety every afternoon waiting for localities to report the results of "beating" F0 set a precedent with countless things to be solved to see all the courage of the "female general" in a battle where the "opponent" is not visible. Faced with an unprecedented and difficult challenge, she was still determined to directly "beat" all F0 out of each the residence.

Tan Uyen town, on August days, the sweat soaked the body during hot summer days, the late meals, and all night to direct testing, tracing and sending patients away was a truly emotional and unforgettable time of the local leaders.

Meeting Mr. Doan Hong Tuoi, Chairman of People's Committee of Tan Uyen Town in the days when Tan Uyen town was overflowed with safety everywhere; his smile was seen again when he attended the opening of the Phu Chanh Industrial Complex Medical Station. That was the moment when all leaders, officials, doctors, soldiers, and police were determined to control and fight the epidemic so that children can go to school soon and families can be reunited; the factory was reopened. “Although it was awkward with shortcomings, we did our best. We were really grateful for the timely and in-depth guidance of leaders at all levels. We appreciated the timely support of medical staff in all regions of the nation, the supporting resources that the business community, organizations and individuals have given to Tan Uyen Town", Mr. Tuoi said in emotion.

In the difficult days of Tan Uyen town, above all, it was solidarity, unity, sharing responsibility, and listening to opinions were the combining synergy to fight the Covid-19 epidemic effectively. The determination of the town was concretized by the motto of actions imbued with every steadfast imprint of the heroic War Zone D.

The great fortresses

In the hustle and bustle of the returning green days, Mr. Phan Chi Nhan, Secretary of Party Committee of Thai Hoa ward in Tan Uyen town said that it has been 4 months since they have held on to wait for the moment. “All this time, we have always received close guidance from the town leadership with proactive and active orders in monitoring the Covid-19 epidemic situation in the area by providing basic necessities to the people in the ward. We thanked all the valuable and timely guidance and the attention of benefactors. I would like to thank the neighborhood officials who got from house to house, check the situations. Not afraid of hardships and dangers, the "fortresses" capture information in a timely manner to perform well in close supervision, propagation, mobilization and remind people of measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic. Those who know very well the situation promptly connect information and suggest appropriate support directions for each urgent case," Nhan confided.

The initiative of collecting oxygen cannisters at Messer Industrial Gas Co. Ltd. for convenient transportation to treatment hospitals and quarantine treatment zone has well serviced the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control

In this extremely difficult and urgent moment of the epidemic, we saw a lot of businesses in the "densely red zones" who were not afraid to overcome difficulties to maintain the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control to share the fire with the locality in the business the spirit of human health first.

During the Covid-19 epidemic days, we often saw blue shirts with the slogan of "Oxy for Life" appearing on the street. Then, when we had the opportunity to sit at the oxygen factory ofMesser Industrial Gas Company Limited in VSIP I Industrial Park, we heard stories about the starting point of that slogan. Those were the days of July, as soon as it was discovered that the cases at some businesses increased, making employees who were temporarily residing in the company worried and did not want to continue to work. Factory leaders had a talk and confided in the staff about human responsibilities to the community and homeland in the survival battle against Covid-19. And then the slogan was born in such a night meeting immediately giving strength to the staff to enter the quarantine areas and the field hospitals without worries of the existing disease and promptly provided oxygen for the patients on the edge of life and death.

In the early days of October, everywhere you look, you can feel the warmth of hope and love that cannot be expressed in words. Talking about all the pain and hardship, it was almost like drawing a shadow through the window. And then, the long sleepless nights were for a day to come back with tremendous love.

Reported by Tieu My – Translated by Vi Bao