HCMC – At a Government meeting on June 24, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that Vietnam is still closed for international tourists to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 infections, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

However, the country has created favorable conditions for foreign experts, investors, diplomats and high-level officials to come to Vietnam for work and for Vietnamese citizens in countries hit by Covid-19 to return home. The Government leader noted that ministries, government agencies and localities should be on their guard to ensure the safety of citizens and protect the country’s success in putting the pandemic under control. Phuc asked the relevant agencies to ensure sufficient Covid-19 testing and quarantine facilities for foreign experts and managers, improve quick Covid-19 testing capacity and ensure timely preventive measures when new cases are reported. He proposed increasing the frequency of flights to send Vietnamese interns and workers to other countries if they are accepted. The Ministry of Transport is in charge of ensuring Covid-19 prevention and control measures for commercial flights from and to safe areas. It has to keep a close eye on the Covid-19 situation in these areas to ensure the timely suspension of flights if the situation worsens. The national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control was asked to identify and quarantine new cases, while the Ministry of Health has to remain prepared for dire circumstances and provide local authorities with Covid-19 infection prevention and control guidance. The prime minister asked the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor, War invalids and Social Affairs and the State Bank of Vietnam to speed up the implementation of stimulus programs, especially the VND62 trillion package for people severely affected by Covid-19. Besides this, requirements of the VND16 trillion package should be relaxed to help businesses access it easily. Concluding the meeting, Phuc said production and services in Vietnam have recovered rather quickly. He lauded the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Defense, relevant agencies and news agencies for successfully implementing the Government's and the prime minister’s directives on Covid-19 infection prevention and control, which have contributed to effectively containing the pandemic.