HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Mekong Delta provinces are tightening preventivemeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic, especially along land borders andcoastal entry points, after two new cases were reported in the region.

OnFebruary 28, a 37-year-old man in Hau Giang province who worked aboard a bargebringing cargo from Cambodia’s Phnom Penh tested positive and was quarantinedimmediately.   

Hehad arrived along with another man at the Thuong Phuoc International Sea Portin Dong Thap’s Hong Ngu district on February 26.

Authoritieshave identified three people who came into close contact with the patient.

Earlier,on February 23, the province’s COVID-19 task force quarantined aVietnamese woman who had entered illegally from Cambodia with the disease. Authorities traced 11 people who had been in contact with her.  

Chairmanof the provincial People’s Committee Pham Thien Nghia has instructed relevantagencies to tighten control over border and coastal entry points.

Theyshould exchange information with their counterparts in neighbouring countriesto make plans to preclude the spread of the disease, he said.

Borderguards should set up a hotline for locals to report people coming fromCOVID-hit areas, he added.

ViceChairman of the provincial People’s Committee Doan Tan Buu said everyoneentering from Cambodia have to be quarantined and tested.

ThePeople’s Committee has approved the suspension of festivals and other eventsand closure of amusement places in Hong Ngu and Tan Hong districts and Hong Ngucity.  

Educationalestablishments will be closed from March 1 to 6.

Atthe border in the provinces of Long An, An Giang and Kien Giang, soldiers areon duty on 24 hours a day at temporary checkpoints.

NguyenVan Ut, Chairman of the Long An Provincial People’s Committee, has instructedborder guards to tighten control, warning that a single person couldspread the disease if not quarantined in time.

Theprovince is seeking the private sector’s assistance to provide borderguards with all the daily necessities they need, he added.

LamMinh Thanh, Chairman of the Kien Giang Provincial People’s Committee, saidrelevant agencies have been instructed to ensure border guards get good mentaland physical care to reassure them.

Theprovince has received 80 soldiers from Da Nang city and Binh Dinh province forCOVID prevention duty at coastal entry points.

Ithas 80 checkpoints at land and sea, and 11 boats patrol its coast to preventCOVID-19, smuggling and illegal entrants.  

BetweenFebruary 24 and 26 more than 150 people entered the province through the Ha Tiencity land border, and all were quarantined and tested.

Borderguards and other authorities disinfect goods brought in from Cambodia andtransfer them to local vehicles for onward transport.

AnGiang province is doing the same thing. Its People’s Committeeplans to set up several task force teams to patrol the border.

TranHong Quan, Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee, saidthough the province does not share land borders with other countries, itscoastal waters are bordered by other countries, a cause for worry, and hasinstructed relevant agencies to be on high alert.  

OnMarch 1 health officials began to test employees of enterprises who are fromother provinces.

Allbusinesses with such employees would be tested, Quan added./.