PM Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the online meeting with localities where social distancing is currently in place, August 29, 2021. (Photo: VNA)

“As we carry out social distancing at the expense of economic growth, we must achieve the goal of containing the pandemic as early as possible,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told a teleconference on Sunday.

The PM, who also heads the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, chaired the meeting with localities where social distancing is currently in place. 

Since the fourth wave of COVID-18 began in Vietnam on April 27, the country has recorded 419,617 cases, according to the meeting. 8 localities have gone through 14 straight days without new cases and only Cao Bang province has stayed free from coronavirus.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Ho Chi Minh city and neighboring Binh Duong province continue to record a high number of new COVID-19 cases with half of them being locally transmitted.

Infections are expected to rise in the coming days as a result of mass testing, he said. 

Mr. Long noted the pandemic has eased in other localities in the southern region as a gradual decline of community cases has been reported. COVID-19 is currently under control in Hanoi in the north and Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, and Phu Yen in the central region, but the risk of new outbreaks remains, he warned.

PM Chinh said as COVID-19 remains unpredictable, it is necessary to get prepared for living with and adapting to the pandemic, while continuing with drastic measures to bring the pandemic under control so as to shift focus on political and socio-economic development tasks.

He said social distancing must be enforced seriously and strictly to make use of this period to rapidly conduct testing and vaccination in a scientific, effective, and comprehensive manner.