The pandemic has revealed many weaknesses in the apparatus and administration, NA deputies said.

Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man emphasized that the pandemic has affected all aspects of socio-economic life, causing harm to people's health. More than 21,000 people, medical workers, soldiers and officers have sacrificed during the pandemic, leaving behind great pain and loss.

“The Standing Committee of the National Assembly cares about the losses that the people have suffered. We would like to honor the people, cadres and soldiers who have sacrificed to serve the people and the country," he said.

Chairman of the NA Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh, said in a report verifying the Government's report on epidemic prevention and control and the implementation of Resolution 30/2021/QH15, further affirmed that the impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health has been huge but has not been fully measured. Employment, income and life of the people have been severely affected.

At the opening meeting of the ongoing National Assembly session, deputies spent a minute of silence in memory of the people and the frontliners who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said there are 2,093 children orphaned due to the Covid-19 epidemic, including more than 1,500 children in Ho Chi Minh City. This causes long-term impact such as mental crisis, disruption in education, and risk of violence or abuse.

In addition, many informal workers have fallen into a vulnerable state due to lack of employment and income. There are still many self-employed workers, and those who do not register for temporary residence complain that they have not been able to access the State's support policies. There are some places that have suffered hunger.

The pandemic has revealed weaknesses, particularly of local authorities. In some localities, extreme anti-epidemic measures were implemented, causing disruption in production, goods circulation and livelihoods of the people. This fact is clearly pointed out in the report of the Chairman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs.

Some local governments had to correct, amend or withdraw their policies and instructions. For example, in the northern province of Ha Nam, only a few hours after issuing the decision to apply lockdown measures under Directive 16 CT/TTg in Phu Ly City, the local authorities issued another decision to narrow the lockdown in 12 communes and wards. Meanwhile, Hanoi constantly changed the mechanism for issuing travel permits.

The comments of the National Assembly were received by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. He said that the work of epidemic prevention and control was sometimes passive or awkward in leadership, direction and organization, especially in the early stages when the epidemic broke out strongly in Ho Chi Minh City and some southern provinces.

In addition, there is still a lack of consistency in the implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures, especially in carrying out social distancing measures at the grassroots level and regulations on people's travel and circulation of goods, causing disruption for people.

The Prime Minister admitted that access to vaccine sources from some countries is still slow, facing many difficulties due to global scarcity; the purchase of vaccines faces risks and Vietnam must accept conditions set by the supplier. Medical capacity, especially at the grassroots level, is still limited and inadequate, leading to overloading in some localities and high fatalities in the early stage of the pandemic wave.

Moreover, relief work and social security in some areas, especially areas under lockdown, is still difficult due to the large number of people in need of support. According to the Prime Minister, preliminary statistics show that tens of millions of people need support at the same time; in Ho Chi Minh City, up to 7.5 million people need support.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that production and business and the life of some people face many difficulties, especially those in isolated and blockaded areas, and epidemic epicenters. The resilience of the economy has declined sharply; the number of workers who have been temporarily suspended from work, or lost their jobs has increased. The spiritual and psychological life of people is affected, especially in areas where prolonged social distancing is implemented. The number of enterprises suspending operation or waiting for dissolution has risen to a high level.

Prime Minister's straightforward spirit

The opening meeting of the ongoing National Assembly session.

Perhaps the most difficult moment of the 4th outbreak is behind. It's time to take a look at weaknesses in the leadership.

Addressing the National Assembly, the Prime Minister affirmed that it “the subjective reasons" caused the work of direction, administration and organization in some places to be sometimes neglected, passive, or rigid, with unsynchronized leadership and directions in the handling of specific and unexpected situations.

Moreover, the coordination between ministries, agencies and localities was not really close and efficiency was not high. It was not prompt in amending, supplementing, and promulgating new mechanisms and policies to meet fast-changing and unpredictable requirements. Administrative procedures for businesses and people are still troublesome.

He pledged that from now until the end of the year, the government will continue to promote aid, import vaccines and transfer technology of vaccine production, research and produce home-grown vaccines, speed up vaccination coverage, prepare Covid-19 treatment drugs, improve medical capacity, set a safe and flexible adaptation roadmap, and strive to control the epidemic nationwide for socio-economic recovery and development.

He also affirmed that the government would come up with an overall strategy on epidemic prevention and control and a program for socio-economic recovery and development, as well as flexibly adjust fiscal, monetary and other policies to stabilize the macro-economy, ensure major balances, and promote production and business.

The government will also prioritize practical and effective support mechanisms and policies for people and businesses; quickly restore the labor market; promote the recovery and development of production and business; ensure the smooth supply and circulation of goods; and unleash all resources for epidemic prevention and control and socio-economic development; ensure social security.

Thus, the government will continue to emphasize the economic front, while still maintaining the health front. In those fronts, it is necessary to have ingenuity and decisiveness and uniformity instead of division of the entire executive system, as well as the consensus and support of the legislative system.

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