Prevent spreading flu

The health sector is confronted with many difficulties, challenges and opportunities for development. With its long-standing traditions, the entire health sector will constantly strive to rise above to serve the country and the people and fulfill all its assigned tasks, thus living up to the trust given it by the Party and people.

In 2020, the world witnessed the rampage of the COVID-19 pandemic with over 105 million cases globally and more than 2.3 million fatalities, affecting all aspects of life. In Vietnam, with the detailed and mindful direction of the Party and the Government; the involvement of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, ministries, departments, branches and localities; and especially the unanimity and active participation of people from all strata of society, the pandemic has ben proactively controlled and contained. In particular, the health sector upheld the tradition of solidarity, creativity and willingness to stand firmly in all hot spots and successfully control the outbreaks, minimise the number of deaths, and curb the spread of the disease. Thanks to this, we have achieved the dual goal of effectively containing the pandemic and maintaining economic development.

In addition to contributing to successes in the fight against the pandemic, with an innovative mindset, the health sector also made many breakthroughs in order to better serve the people. The inception of a remote medical examination and treatment system connecting 1,500 hospitals helps the people access higher-level medical services right at grassroots level, while 97.5 million health records were set up, creating a premise upon which to develop a smart health system. The whole sector actively implemented digital transformation with the introduction of a series of digital health platforms and applications, and the publicisation of drug , medical equipment and service prices, making it more favourable for the people and businesses alike. 2020 also saw innovation in the form of advanced techniques in organ transplantation and conjoined twin separation surgery.

The health sector has determined 2021 as a starting milestone in the process of implementing strong and comprehensive reforms in the sector. This is the first year to implement the Resolution of the 13 ^th National Party Congress and the health sector has been assigned important tasks on caring for and protecting the people’s health in the new situation. The pandemic continues to evolve in a complicated and unpredictable manner globally, with the potential risk of further spreading in Vietnam. Right from the beginning of 2021, COVID-19 resurged in the provinces of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh and spread to 11 other localities nationwide. The fight against the “COVID-19 enemy” is getting tougher with new strains of SARS-CoV-2 spreading faster. Therefore, the whole sector needs to rapidly and comprehensively reform its activities, while inheriting good traditions and promoting its intelligence and solidarity in order to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13 ^th National Party Congress and continue ensuring a safe environment for the successful realisation of the Government’s dual goal for a second consecutive year.

One of the most urgent tasks for the heath sector in 2021 is to continue effectively battling the pandemic as its third wave broke out in Hai Duong and a number of cities and provinces. Promoting the COVID-19 fight experience, we once again mobilised the participation of the entire political system, and have basically brought the disease under control in most localities after just over three weeks. Under the direction of the Government and the National Steering Committee, the Ministry of Health has continued to coordinate closely and promptly support localities to quickly take control of the disease, while working to soon bring vaccines to Vietnam to serve the people as well as strongly accelerating the domestic research into and testing of vaccines.

Second, step up preventive medicine and the fight against the pandemic; promote successes and lessons learnt in battling the disease and quelling the outbreaks; establish regional disease control centres; build in-depth research establishments on epidemiology and pathogens; promote community-based programmes on protecting health and preventing infectious and non-communicable diseases; and implement health target programmes as well as the sustainable development goal on health.

Third, improve the quality of medical examination and treatment towards patients’ satisfaction; facilitate people’s access to quality medical services; strengthen administrative reforms in medical examination and treatment; increase investment in medical facilities; speed up the implementation of comprehensive care with patients placed at the centre of services; reduce overloads on central-level hospitals; and enhance the development of traditional medicine.

Fourth, strengthen and strongly reform grassroots healthcare in the new situation towards implementing universal health coverage; improve capacity for grassroots healthcare; implement projects to train medical human resources for remote, mountainous and island areas; implement universal health management; and carry out the community-based healthcare programmes for the elderly..

Fifth, comprehensively reform the development of medical human resources; strengthen the social responsibilities of medical workers; improve welfare policies for health workers, especially those working at grassroots health facilities in remote, mountainous and disadvantaged areas; and promote medical workers’ creativity and working spirit in the cause of caring for and protecting the people’s health.

Sixth, continue to upgrade medical establishments; strengthen management, publicity and transparency in health insurance implementation; and care for policy beneficiaries, the poor, those facing special circumstances, revolutionary contributors and the elderly, ensuring that all people have equal access to health care services.

Seventh, strengthen the management of pharmaceuticals, food and medical equipment; ensuring publicity and transparency in the management, licensing, bidding, and procurement of drugs and medical equipment; publicise the prices of medicines, medical equipment, and medical examination and treatment services; accelerate the domestic production of drugs and medical equipment; promote the development of medicinal materials; tighten food safety management; and strengthen the inspection of medical units’ bidding and procurement implementation and strictly handle all violations.

Eighth, implement the health sector master plan until 2045 to ensure Vietnam’s health system develops on a par with other countries in the world; continue to streamline the medical apparatus to ensure equal development among different regions; develop medical facilities that are capable of competing against others globally; and boost the integration of medical activities with socio-economic development.

Ninth, improve medical ethics among medical officials and workers, especially young doctors; continue to accelerate the study and following of Uncle Ho’s thought, morality and lifestyle; and promptly implement reward policies to encourage medical workers and strictly punish any violations of medical ethics.

Tenth, step up scientific research and international cooperation, including basic science and applied sciences in medicine; strengthen investment in research activities at universities, research institutes and medical examination and treatment establishments; strongly promote the application of Industry 4.0 achievements in medicine; accelerate the research and production of vaccines, medicines and medical equipment; strengthen the role and position of Vietnam’s health sector in the international arena; boost bilateral and multilateral cooperation and attract resources and professional & technical assistance from developed countries; and strongly promote professional cooperation between domestic schools, institutes and hospitals and countries around the world.

Celebrating the 66th anniversary of Vietnam Doctors’ Day amidst the complicated and unpredictable COVID-19 context, more than ever, health workers throughout the country must be more determined to respond to the calls of the Party General Secretary and State President as well as the Prime Minister on successfully implementing the dual goal of fighting the pandemic and promoting economic development.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long

Member of the Party Central Committee and Minister of Health

By Van Khuong – Translated by Anh Quan

US President Joe Biden(C) leaves Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington,DC on January 24, 2021. Joe Biden has begun his presidency with sharp breaks from Donald Trump in both substance and tone, from climate change to immigration to a general openness to working with the rest of the world.(Nicholas Kamm / AFP)

Biden will also on Monday extend the ban to travelers who have recently been to South Africa amid warnings that new, more transmissible coronavirus variants are already establishing themselves in the United States, the official said, confirming US media reports.

The new president last week tightened mask wearing rules and ordered quarantine for people flying into the United States, as he seeks to tackle the country’s worsening coronavirus crisis.

Biden has said that the Covid-19 death toll would likely rise from 420,000 to half a million next month — and that drastic action was needed.

“We’re in a national emergency. It’s time we treated it like one,” he said on Thursday.

In his last days in office, Donald Trump announced that a Covid-19 ban on travelers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted — but the Biden administration immediately said it would reverse the order due to come into effect on January 26.

Trump had announced an initial ban on January 31, 2020 on non-American travelers entering from China to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The ban was extended to European countries on March 14 as the pandemic entered full force.

More than 25 million Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the US since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally on Sunday.

The milestone was reached only five days after the US, the world’s wealthiest and hardest-hit nation, recorded 400,000 deaths from the disease.

Biden has made fighting the coronavirus a priority and is pushing for Congress to approve a $1.9-trillion relief package that would include billions of dollars to boost vaccination rates.

The president, who was inaugurated on January 20, has said he wants 100 million people vaccinated within his first 100 days in office, and he has called for Americans to wear masks for 100 days.

AFP

At 6 a.m. Friday, the 15th day of the first lunar month, Ly A Ton, 62, woke early to prepare offerings, including fresh flowers, fruit, incense, boiled chicken and fried cakes ( jian dui ) in front of his house on Tran Hung Dao Street in District 5.

Instead of flocking to a Chinese-built pagoda with his offerings and burning incense to the gods as in previous years, Ton stayed home and set up a table to worship the deities for fear of gathering in crowds amid the new Covid-19 outbreak that began in the country in late January.

He then hung red pieces of paper bearing Chinese characters on his walls to pray for peace and good fortune.

“This is the most important ritual during Tet Nguyen Tieu ,” he said, referring to the Lantern Festival, known as the biggest and most important festival of the year for ethnic Chinese, marking the final day of the traditional Lunar New Year ( Tet ) celebration.

It is observed on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the first Full Moon day of the Lunar New Year.

” Tet Nguyen Tieu to us is even more important than Lunar New Year’s Eve and Chinese like us always light incense to deities at pagodas and temples to pray for the removal of bad luck and a year of peace and happiness,” Ton noted.

“But the Covid-19 outbreak forced us to celebrate on a smaller scale this year. I am old and scared of contracting the virus or spreading it to my family members. Therefore, I limit going out and gathering in crowds.”

He also had to cancel a reunion party with his relatives and could not visit his friends during the festival, which is an occasion for reunited families to eat dumplings and floating rice cakes made of glutinous rice flour wrapped around a sweet filling.

Inside the 250-year-old Lady Thien Hau Temple, which is dedicated to worship the Goddess of the Sea, the devout convey their prayers by lighting spiral incense sticks that can burn for weeks. Photo by VnExpress/Phong Vinh.

Ton is one of thousands of ethnic Chinese in Saigon who have been forced to scrap their plans during their biggest traditional spring festival, normally accompanied with dragon dances, street parades, music performances and large crowds.

The city suspended all non-essential services, shutting down bars, karaoke parlors, cinemas and discotheques, and banned religious events since Feb. 9 after recording a series of community transmissions linked to a cluster at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Though city authorities allowed the organization of religious events from March 1, gatherings of more than 50 people at a time remain prohibited.

This was the second consecutive year the festival has been suspended due to the pandemic. The Chinatown area on Friday saw no dragon dances and street parades to avoid large crowds.

Without dragon dances, the festival was no longer as busy nor as meaningful as before, A Tieu, a 55-year-old merchant at Soai Kinh Lam Market, said while preparing to up his shutters for a new business day.

Dragon dance is performed by famous troupes in the Chinatown during Tet Nguyen Tieu , 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen.

The Chinese community strongly believes these dances would dispel evil and bring luck and success. For this, every family invites a lion dance troupe to visit their homes and business establishments on the first days of the New Year, giving them an envelope of lucky money.

Ly Sy Cuong, a caretaker at Nghia An Assembly Hall where Quan Cong (Guan Yu), an ancient Chinese general, is worshiped for his loyalty, sincerity and integrity, said the number of pilgrims on Friday fell sharply as dragon dances and hat tuong , Vietnamese-Chinese opera, were canceled.

Ethnic Chinese have a long tradition to queue up and crawl under the Chinese general horse called Red Hare once or thrice hoping for a smooth start to the new year.

Vietnam has recorded 837 Covid-19 community transmissions in 13 localities, including Hanoi and HCMC, since Jan. 28 after a 55-day clean streak. Many major spring festivals have been suspended due to travel restrictions, lockdowns and quarantine requirements.

Ethnic Chinese, locally referred to as Hoa people, arrived in the south of Vietnam over 300 years ago, with many cultural traditions and long-standing customs kept alive until now.

For Ton, his best wish during Tet Nguyen Tieu is that all people would be safe amid the pandemic and Chinese Vietnamese businesses would fare better this year.