HCMC establishes working group to purchase coronavirus vaccines
HO CHI Minh City (HCMC) authorities have set up a working team responsible for buying Covid-19 vaccines for at least two-thirds of its population by year-end, HCMC People’s Committee chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong told an online meeting on June 11.
Speaking about the southern Vietnamese city’s economic development in the first five months of the year, Phong said HCMC would speed up the vaccination drive by encouraging the business community to connect with suppliers.
Vietnam’s most populous city had achieved “remarkable results” in its implementation of its “dual goal” of maintaining the economy while applying strict Covid preventive measures in the first five months, he said.
“The city will continue its flexible economic management and pandemic prevention measures.”
Since the fourth wave that began in late April, the city has detected more than 630 locally transmitted cases, ranking third in the country. The cases have been mostly related to the Go Vap district cluster.
Phong said the outbreak was basically under control, but warned that the situation remained unpredictable because infection chains without known sources of infection continue to occur.
HCMC will continue to take serious measures to contain the spread. It has banned religious and group activities, suspended citizen-identification granting procedures, and postponed the entrance
exam for 10th grade until further notice, among other social-distancing measures.
The city plans to offer another support package for companies and workers affected by the outbreak, according to Phong.
Since the beginning of this year, some 1,365 firms in the city have been affected, with more than 42,500 workers losing their jobs, according to the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
More than 400 companies are in urgent need of preferential loans for wage payments to workers to maintain their business operations.
More than 2,270 enterprises completed dissolution procedures in the first five months of the year, up 4.99 per cent year-on-year, and 9,308 enterprises temporarily suspended operations, up 22.99 per cent year-on-year.