"Red zone" localities strive to return to "new normal" state

After more than 3 months of fighting Covid-19 pandemic, Binh Duong has achieved many obvious results in this fight. Most pandemic outbreaks in districts, towns and cities in the province have been controlled well. In order to bring people's lives back to the "new normal" state, localities have mapped out specific plans, gradually reopening production and business activities to ensure safety for Covid-19 prevention and control.

Don't let pandemic resurge…

In the past few days, Nguyen Van Loi, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Head of provincial National Assembly deputy delegation, Head of provincial Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control requested the “red zone” localities not to be re-infected with Covid-19 pandemic when carrying out unexpected inspection tours on pandemic prevention and control in these localities. Accordingly, he suggested localities to place safety on Covid-19 prevention first, only reopening production and business activities in areas that are completely "clean" of the pandemic.

Taking samples for Covid-19 testing on people in Thuan Giao ward’s Binh Thuan quarter in Thuan An city on the morning of September 11

For areas that are still dotted with "yellow spots", "red spots", Mr.Loi suggested that the Steering Committees of districts, towns and cities need to focus all their forces on quickly handling them, not letting the pandemic resurge. Localities must try to do as much as they can, absolutely not doing this task perfunctorily to race for achievements.

Following the direction of provincial leaders, the "red zone" localities have continued fighting the pandemic drastically with the highest sense of urgency. Under the plan, these localities are temporarily dividing their epidemiological map into 2 separate zones. A cleaned area is being preserved and protected by local authorities. The remainders are areas with “yellow”, “orange” and “red” spots that are being cleaned by functional forces every day.

After 10 days (from Septermber 1 to 10) of focusing on fighting Covid-19, Thu Dau Mot city has well controlled the pandemic. On that basis, the city has announced it as the "green zone" and gradually brought production and business activities back to the "new normal" state. The situation of the pandemic in neighboring localities is still complicated, so the city has continued limiting people from other localities to enter it. The city's Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control has also continued guiding and supporting wards to complete testing work in areas that are still under blockade towards the goal of completely stamp out the pandemic in the coming days.

Along with TDM city, other "red zone" localities have also set up their own specific roadmap in the spirit of ensuring safety for pandemic prevention and control while gradually reopening production and business activities towards socio-economic development and recovery  in the coming time.

Persevering to “new normal” roadmap

Bui Thanh Nhan, Secretary of Di An city’s Party Committee, Head of the city’s Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control said that following the direction of the province, the city has urgently rechecked and defined the situation of the pandemic in wards, quarters and  groups. On that basis, the city's Steering Committee will set up a plan to bring the whole city back to the "new normal" state.

Mr.Nhan added that the city's plan is to complete large-scale testing and vaccination against Covid-19 for the local people by September 15. Localities that ensure the progress of the tasks will be allowed to return to the "new normal" state. For unfinished localities, they will be zoned, further implementing the above tasks and be reopened when being completely free from the pandemic.

Similarly, after more than 3 months of drastically fighting the pandemic, as of early September 2021, Thuan An city has also set up its own roadmap to return to the "new normal" state. Nguyen Thanh Tam, Chairman of the city’s People's Committee said these days the city is trying its best to clean it, promoting vaccine coverage to bring it back to the "new normal" state on September 15. Some areas have not been able to meet the progress of vaccine coverage. This is due to the lack of vaccination forces while the number of people with temporary residence is crowded. The city is expected to continue zoning and cleaning it no later than September 15.

Talking to reporters, Nguyen Thi Tram, a resident of Thuan An city’s Binh Chuan ward said that she has completely agreed with the city's decision. The reopening of production and business activities must be based on the actual pandemic situation of localities and they must be opened gradually. If being in a hurry, it is very easy to cause the risk of pandemic re-infection and resurgence.

Localities such as Tan Uyen, Ben Cat towns have also established a safe roadmap to recover the local production and business activities. Accordingly, for areas that have completed large-scale Covid-19 testing under the 1-3-5 strategy, these towns have announced them as the "green zones" on the epidemiological map. For areas with complicated epidemiological developments, the Steering Boards for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of the towns will continue mobilizing the entire political system and  social resources to participate in the “dual campaign" of Covid-19 testing and vaccination on the local people.

On September 10, Thu Dau Mot city held a ceremony to announce it as the "green zone", bringing the city back to the "new normal" state. With the announcement of the "green zone", the city has became the first locality in the southern "red zone" of the province to begin returning to the "new normal" state. However, the city has continued implementing social distancing under the Prime Minister‘s Directive No.16 until the end of September 15 to protect the local results in the fight against Covid-19.

Reported by Dinh Thang-Translated by Kim Tin