Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed a decision on April 1 officially declaring a nationwideCOVID-19 epidemic.
The decision stated that theacute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)was first found in the country on January 23.
COVID-19 has been classified as a GroupA infectious disease, which poses the risk of becoming a global pandemic through transmission fromperson to person, the decision noted.
It stipulates specific solutions and measures to copewith the pandemic under the Law on Infectious Diseases, including setting up a steeringcommittee for prevention, introducing health quarantining, monitoring affectedareas, mobilising resources within society to fight the epidemic, promotinginternational cooperation, and setting up emergency hospitals when required.
The decision comes into effect on April 1.
Ministries, ministerial-levelagencies, government agencies, people’s committees of centrally-run cities andprovinces, health facilities, organizations, and individuals must strictly followdirections from the Party Central Committee Secretariat, the Politburo, thePrime Minister, and the National Steering Committee for Preventing andCombating COVID-19.
As at the morning of April 1,Vietnam had 212 cases of infection, with 60 patients having recovered, according to the National Institute ofHygiene and Epidemiology./.
VNA
