Hanoi (VNA) ꦕ– Keeping pandemic safety at production and business establishments is a crucial task of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to help achieve the Government’s dual goals of fighting against the COVID-19 and boosting the socio-economic development to keep workers and people’s life stable.

So said MoIT Minister Nguyen Hong Dien at a teleconference with some localities on May 13 to look into COVID-19 prevention and control at industrial and commercial establishments.

Combating pandemic right at production facilities

MoIT Deputy Minister Dang Hoang An underlined the ministry’s top request, that is preventing COVID-19 transmission at factories, businesses, production facilities, trade centres, supermarkets, restaurants, and markets. Statistics show that nearly 400 industrial parks, 30 border gate economic zones, and 20 coastal economic zones nationwide are employing nearly 4 million workers. There are also 700 industrial clusters with about 600,000 labourers. In the trade sector, there are 800 supermarkets, 168 trade centres, and nearly 9,000 markets, and 600,000 restaurants. All of these places are densely populated with high risks of coronavirus transmission, but production and business must be maintained or the economy will suffer from disruption, An noted. Pointing out the recent pandemic situation in some industrial parks and business establishments, he held that if COVID-19 fight measures are not carried out well there, it will be very difficult to achieve the “dual goals” of concurrently fighting the pandemic and boosting socio-economic development. Given this, he asked the authorities of industrial parks, industrial clusters, and owners of production and business establishments to thoroughly grasp and seriously comply with the directions issued by the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, the Government, and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Minister Nguyen Hong Dien requested leaders of localities to be fully aware of the principle of “four on-the-spot” (command on the spot, personnel on the spot, equipment on the spot, and logistics on the spot). He laid a particular emphasis on the role and responsibility of the authorities and managers of economic zones, industrial parks and clusters, businesses, and factories in implementing anti-pandemic measures.

Readying supplies of essential goods

Though the COVID-19 situation remains complicated, the market and goods supplies have been maintained over the past days. Tran Duy Dong, Director of the MoIT’s Domestic Market Department, said despite complex COVID-19 developments, consumers are still calm as they trust the distribution system for its capacity of supplying essential products, and there is no reasons for people to rush to stockpile goods. Notably, trading activities have still taken place normally in the pandemic-hit localities. In particular, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade has devised a detailed plan on the provision of goods from other localities so as to meet local residents’ demand and ease the congestion of products caused by the coronavirus outbreak. About 194 trillion VND (8.5 billion USD) worth of goods will be prepared to serve Hanoi consumers in three months. The department has geared up 2,000 warehouses to help distributors open mobile stores, and municipal authorities licensed 131 distribution enterprises to operate around the clock to ensure sufficient supplies of essential items. In Ho Chi Minh City, the merchandise market also remains stable with abundant supplies and stable prices. The municipal Department of Industry and Trade has also instructed businesses operating in markets, supermarkets, trade centres, and stores in implementing COVID-19 prevention and control measures, an official said. Minister Dien stressed that enhancing the pandemic safety at production and business facilities is a crucial task to help achieve the Government’s dual goals of combating COVID-19 and boosting socio-economic development to keep workers and people’s life stable. The urgent mission now is to increase examining, supervising, and encouraging economic zones, industrial parks and clusters, factories, trade centres, supermarkets, markets, hotels, restaurants, and other production and business facilities to frequently review their implementation of anti-pandemic measures, he said, asking for a stricter hand those failing to perform this task. He requested stronger market surveillance to secure the balance of supply and demand of goods. Meanwhile, the Domestic Market Department needs to keep a close watch on the market situations and prices of essential goods, devise plans or submit proposals to the MoIT to guarantee sufficient goods supplies with stable prices, and urge localities to build “maps for safely living with the COVID-19 pandemic”, the minister added./.