Epidemiologist Tran Dac Phu said that Vietnam has a long border with Cambodia, people of the two countries trade a lot, and the risk of infection is high if they are not tightly controlled.

“The border line between the two countries on the mainland is very long, there are also air routes and sea routes. In particular, the sea route is difficult to control,” Mr. Phu told VnExpress on April 13. Mr. Phu is currently Senior Advisor to the Vietnam Public Health Event Emergency Response Center.

According to Mr. Phu, Vietnamese people trade, travel and live in Cambodia a lot. The number of people entering, including legal and illegal, is also large. Typically, the case recorded in Ho Chi Minh City is “patient 2580”, the case in Hai Phong is the “patient 2582” recently, all illegally entered by fishing boat from Cambodia.

“The risk of infection is high, it is necessary to strictly control border gates, open-way trails, strict isolation, do not let the epidemic leak or the epidemic will explode again,” Mr. Phu emphasized.

The recommendation made by Mr. Phu in the context of Covid-19 in Cambodia was complicated. The country’s authorities must urgently implement the vaccination as well as take tough measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

Cambodia reported 227 new infections on April 12, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases to 4,515. The number of deaths was 30. The country also recorded more than 1,000 cases in the previous two days, mostly garment workers and small market traders.

Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) Li Ailan warned that Cambodia was “standing on the brink of a national tragedy” caused by Covid-19, “that the Cambodian health system was in danger of breaking the game and causing dire consequences if could not stop an outbreak “.

For about a month, Vietnam has not recorded any community infections, but the number of entries is continuously detected. In particular, many people imported from Cambodia, were immediately discovered and quarantined

Mr. Phu emphasized that Vietnam needs to strengthen control of entries at border gates, check open-way trails, especially sea routes to prevent people from entering illegally. People do not cross the border illegally, so they enter through official channels and comply with safe medical isolation.

He also called on people to discover that people who entered illegally have returned to the community, truthfully and without hiding them. In the past time, there have been cases where people have been reported illegally entering, such as the mother in Vinh Long who reported to the police to put their children in isolation, to prevent the epidemic from spreading in time.

Currently, the country epidemic has been controlled. The health sector is also rapidly implementing Covid-19 vaccination, to date a total of more than 59,000 people have been vaccinated in 19 provinces and cities.

“Vietnam is cautiously vaccinated, where it is safe to inject. When the domestic epidemic is controlled well and the people have access to the vaccine, the time to eliminate Covid-19 will be very close,” said Phu.

Is: vnexpress