Frontliners, backliners act in unison

Mrs. Le Thi Hanh at her day-to-night shift at Van Tien Dung checkpoint. (Photo: Doan Bong)

At the age of 50, the judicial officer of Phuc Dien ward (Bac Tu Liem district, Hanoi), Mrs. Le Thi Hanh is still diligent at the checkpoint desk on the T-junction Van Tien Dung - Highway 32, alongside other forces. It is not rare that her shifts extend until dawn.

Hanh has done dozens of minutes of administrative violations, she hopes each citizen strictly abides by the Directive 16 on social distancing, and the frontline workers will have some idle moments and the city will soon be able to repel the epidemic.

"There were nights on duty that we had to take turns to rest since the weather was not very supportive of us, going up to 38 degrees Celsius, and then there came rainy days, but no one left the post. When people were dreaming in their cozy beds, we’re still on guard. The best way to contribute to winning this epidemic is to simply stay home," Hanh said.

Captain Trinh Quoc Khanh makes a phone call to verify the reason for the travel of a man. (Photo: Doan Bong)

As another member of the team with more than ten days of consecutive work, Captain Trinh Quoc Khanh (Dong Da district police) said that he has encountered many people and listened to hundreds of reasons to go out, especially situations where people said they got too bored at home and needed some fresh air. He and hundreds of his teammates had to part from their family to be on duty at the unit. What can help blunt the fatigue they feel is the compliance of the people, but there are still many unaware that their non-compliance can ruin the efforts of the community.

Curb the one person 'who can ruin it for everyone’

The emergence of unknown infections in Hanoi has recently led to authorities spending nights on tracing, carrying out medical isolation, and tightening regulations on social distancing by strengthening checkpoints in almost every nook of streets.

Hanoi and many other provinces and cities are taking advantage of this time to focus on tracking down the source of infection, finding F0 cases in the community and putting all efforts in disease control to work towards extinguishing the epidemic as soon as possible. However, such unremitting efforts will only bear fruit when each family and individual truly shoulder their responsibility in the battle against Covid-19.

A man asks to turn back to his path as he didn't have a road permit in My Dinh ward 1.

Ms. Bui Thi Kim Huyen, (Nam Tu Liem district) and her whole family has stayed within the confines of their home since the quarantine order. The safety of her loved ones and the community is put above all, including social exchanges and gatherings with friend.

Hanoi requires people to strictly implement home confinement in each neighborhood, and residential areas. Thousands of forces from the police, health care, army, civil defense and youth unions were deployed to Covid-19 epidemic control points to minimize the improper movement of people.

However, as noted, despite the 13th day of social distancing rule imposed, alongside the consensus of agencies and other units, there are still hundreds of cases sanctioned for infringing regulations on epidemic prevention and control, so the risk of one person’s negligence burdening the whole society is still present.

According to statistics of the City Police, it remains pervasive that people unnecessarily go out on the street. Particularly, the functional forces in Hanoi have sanctioned about 1,000 cases of violations, the total fine amounting to billions of VND, which reflects the indifferent and even contemptuous attitude of some individuals going against the efforts of many others, especially frontliners.

A brief idle moment at midnight at a control checkpoint on Cua Nam street. (Photo: Doan Bong)

During an inspection of epidemic prevention and control in Ha Dong and Chuong My districts, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung paid special attention to propaganda in implementing social distancing.

He emphasized that localities need to strengthen advocacy by checking and closely monitoring the implementation of social spacing, maintaining checkpoints and inspection control at households, villages, hamlets, alleys and streets to ensure the efficacy of mass distancing.

Mr. Dung said that all districts, towns, wards, communes and townships across the city must join in with more determination and personal responsibility, especially those in charge of the job. Take the effectiveness of performing urgent tasks of epidemic prevention and control as a measure of prestige and personal leadership capacity.

"If this is done well, with the support and consensus of the people, there is a buoyant hope that Hanoi will be capable of repelling the epidemic," said the Hanoi Secretary.

Ha An

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