HCMC Vietnam failed to contain Covid19 delta 4th Wave
- Mr Nguyen Thanh Phong chairman of HCMC is dismissed.
After 6-weeks of using full power and failing to contain the spread. Here comes the military to help enforce à stricter quarantine “stay where you are” campaign.
Nationwide despite a fairly strict quarantine with most cross district movements stopped, stay home for all, closed non-essential businesses, open hours 9-to-5, curfew and limitation to shop at 2-day/week was not enough.
It started with the festive Liberation day 30-Apr-2021, the spread was unstoppable. The F0-positive + the F1 closest contacts rapidly filled the existing F0-confinement centers.
Some inadequate decisions lead to a steady increase of cases:
- Decision the requisition of empty buildings into improvised F0/F1-confinement centers to isolate from the main population,
- Lockdown company offices (banks, administrations) and all their staff as soon as a F0 was tested positive.
- Let the choice to continue production in factories which ones, became F0/F1-confinement centers as soon as 1 positive case, to keep the economy exporting and salaries.
- Let citizen home in self F0-confinement when promiscuity was a sure cause for failure
- Not accelerating vaccination campaigns for various reasons
- Putting up fires making ineffective short-term views tactics: spreading to neighboring province of Binh Duong, closing industrial zones creating uncontrolable exodus to the provinces
Facing the figures by provinces and the full power to decide and action given by the prime minister cabinet for Covid control, it was clear HCMC was doing a bad job. More so, Covid19 was spreading to the neighboring provinces as a result of a deliberate choice to let companies produce The ones that would not continue production with all confined in the factory and non-essential shops closed, causing a mass exodus back to the neighbouring provinces, thus exporting F0-covid cases outside of HCMC. As you can read the below results are HCMC and adjacent province.
Hanoi capital had to act strongly with a plan: the strategy of the Green zones till april 2022 and the tactics of ‘Stay right where you are’ for HCMC and the Southern provinces by 15-sep-2021.
Hanoi capital takes over to contain HCMC Covid19 spread with “stay where you are” tactics
Looking at June to id august 2021 figures of contamination in HCMC, doubling every day, it was clear strong action was necessary and the past tactics was no match to the Covid19 delta variant. Since early june, HCMC had full power and the main strategies failed due to insufficient confinement centers and hospitals, and under estimating the delta variant much more contagious. The Covid19 kept on spreading under strict confinement due to same tactics (that proved successfu) as 2020, zero tolerance for F0 cases in town:
- Overloaded Covid19 designated state hospitals an failure to enroll private sector for free treatment as per Vietnam authorities ‘recommendation’,
- Improvised confinement centers by requisition of empty building shifting them into ‘Covid19 centers’, to separate F0+F1 from the population
- stay home for F0 positive and F1 family members -even in promiscuity of tiny homes-
- the “3-on site” policy: work-eat-sleep on the factory premises, to whoever wanted to continue production
- the “1-transport 2 locations” policy: 1 transportation from Dormitory place to Working place and back
- Vaccination teams following the districts and areas as they become red zones with positive cases
All those backfired to the current spike in Covid19 positive cases by an unseen 10 thousands daily, regardless of strict quarantine nationwide.
Vietnam implements the Green zone strategy to eradicate Covid19 by Apr-2021. Subscribe to Latest Covid19 Emergency
The 3 main lessons learnt are:
- the Covid21 Delta variant is overwhelming any effort at strict confinement by its high degree of contagiousness.
- the strategies 3-onsite and 1-2locations backfired creating uncontrollable clusters, notwithstanding huge costs of Covid19 prevention
- Improvised F0/F1 centers and home confinement are creating clusters due to promiscuity
- A Green zone -new name- where a building, street, district- free of Covid19 can become Red again if left to carelessness
Thus the strategy started with great help of 10,000 troops on Monday 23-Aug to secure Green zones, one adjacent zone at a time. Then connecting green zones together until the whole of HCMC is green, Covid free by 15-sep-2021.
The 10,000 military troops enforce the “stay where you are” strictly to the point that streets/districts are barbed wired to insure no movement. The soldiers are the delivery men for essential goods, for next 2 weeks to 6-Sep.
There huge task for HCMC 13Mio inhabitants, consists of:
- define zones by color Green, Yellow, Orange and Red
- Tests them all
- Vaccinate the Green & Orange zones
- Keep Green zones Green
- Isolate the F0/F1
- Vaccinate the rest until the Zone is declared Green
- Reconnect the adjacents Green zones together
Deadline to re-open a Green HCM city is 15-Sep-2021.
At last a Covid19 delta Vaccination Strategy is drafted to support Green zones conquest.
The vaccination strategy 2020 was deemed nil or dormant by observers without the proper decision criteria by Vietnam authorities.
Now clearly the overwhelming Covid19 delta taking a toll on human lives by the hundreds daily, has changed the priority and the strategy. Budget allocation is being shifting to immediate paid supplies and Donations are flowing in a stressed and limited Vietnam healthcare system.
Priority: HCMC and neighboring industrial provinces population full vaccination
Strategy: Secure the Green zones (no Covid, fully vaccinated), Yellow-Orange-Red: Isolate, cure F0 and vaccinate to turn them into Green zone
Target: HCMC 15-sep-2021, reconnect all adjacents Green Zones, for a free Covid19 of Vietnam by april-2022
More on this on a separate post
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