The Government holds the regular meeting for January in Hanoi on February 5 (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Drastic actions must be taken tofight the acute respiratory disease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus(nCoV), but they must not affect the country’s socio-economic development,Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on February 5.
At the Government’s regular meeting for Januaryin Hanoi, he repeated that some economic growth could be “sacrificed” toprotect people’s health and lives.
Although Vietnam shares a long borderline andhas a great trading volume with China, where the nCoV is raging, the countryhas so far kept the epidemic under control. The country has recorded 10infected cases so far, with three of whom having fully recovered, and none ofthem are in life threatening condition, according to him.
In the spirit of fighting the disease like“fighting an enemy”, PM Phuc stressed the need for strong measures toconcurrently ensure growth and combat the nCoV.
He noted the nCoV outbreak has strongly affectedeconomic growth in Vietnam and other countries around the world, especially inthe fields of aviation, agriculture, securities, tourism, and export. Besides,the Lunar New Year holiday in January was long. As a result, gross domesticproduct (GDP) growth in the first quarter could be influenced considerably, hesaid, estimating that the growth rate for Q1 could reduce by 1 percent.
Though difficulties appeared right from theonset of 2020, the Government leader emphasised that the revision of the growthtarget for this year hasn’t been put on the table.
As quick response teams have been set up to copewith the nCoV, similar teams in terms of economy, finance and production shouldalso be established to respond to economic growth slowdown, he said, callingfor strong efforts to overcome difficulties to drive the Vietnamese economyforward to meet the people’s aspirations.
The PM requested sectors and localities to keepworking to ensure macro-stability and major economic balances and promoteproduction and production activities.
During the one-day meeting, Government memberswill discuss ways to combat the nCoV and achieve socio-economic developmenttargets at the same time.
They will listen to the Ministry of Healthreporting on the nCoV prevention and control, and the Ministry of Planning andInvestment reporting on growth scenario updates and proposing solutions tocarry out development tasks amid the nCoV outbreak. They will also discuss somedraft laws, resolutions and the law making programmes for 2020 and 2021./.
VNA
