Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked localities to strengthen measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

The pandemic is still developing unpredictably with the continual appearance of new variants and sub-variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the decreasing effectiveness of vaccines, the government leader said. A change in seasons and the easing of pandemic prevention and control policies in some countries are likely to increase the risk of a surge in Covid-19 cases.

He asked the Ministry of Health (MoH) to keep a close eye on the domestic and international pandemic situation to offer timely guidelines and coordinate with ministries, sectors, and localities in the fight.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was asked to work with the MoH and localities to tell tourism businesses to ensure the safety of tourists and local people.

The Prime Minister also instructed localities to strengthen the monitoring of people arriving from areas with pandemic outbreaks and localities where new Covid-19 variants are found and to continue speeding up Covid-19 vaccinations.