“The (COVID-19) situation is still under control, we should stay calm. However, an urgent task right now is to speed up the SARS-CoV-2 testing and the tracing of contacts of positive cases”, said municipal Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang, the city’ top leader, at a meeting held by the Da Nang Steering Board for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Wednesday.

Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang (left) addressed a meeting on Wednesday held by the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Further speeding up COVID-19 testing

Da Nang has registered 42 locally transmitted cases on May 12, thus bringing the city’s total cases to 102 since May 3 when the first community infection was reported, said the latest report released by the municipal Department of Health.

Amid the number of contacts of recently-confirmed COVID-19 patients expected to be on rise in the coming days, Secretary Quang urged all relevant local agencies to draw up pandemic response scenarios in a higher vigilance level so as to cope with more potentially complicated developments of the coronavirus.

In particular, heed should be paid to inspecting the practice of preventive measures in all local industrial parks (IPs). Enterprises must sign written commitments to ensure their compliance during their production and business activities.

Besides, strict punishments must be imposed on those who flout national and municipal governments-mandated COVID prevention rules.

Disinfectant sprays for the prevention of COVID-19 was conducted in this industrial park and its surroundings on Wednesday, following the detection of a positive case here. Photo: XUAN DUNG

Ensuring no potentially infectious cases missed

Amid the highly concerning fact that the local authorities have yet to trace all close contacts of COVID-19 cases in the community, municipal People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh asked the all-level authorities to ensure that no close contacts are missed by contact tracers and not told to self-isolate.

According to doctor Ton That Thanh, Director of the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control (CDC Da Nang), through genetic sequencing and on the basis of analysing the number of infections and infection cycles, potentially infectious cases linked to high-risk settings are expected to remain in the community.

In face of this fact, the general public must strictly obey the Health Ministry-mandated 5K (in Vietnamese) motto: namely ‘Khau trang’ (Face mask) – ‘Khu khuan’ (Disinfection) – ‘Khoang cach’ ‘Distance’ - ‘Khong tu tap’ (No gatherings) – ‘Khai bao y te’ (Health Declaration) in a bid to protect themselves and others, thus helping prevent the possible spread of the virus.

With regard to new outbreaks in the city, on May 12, 33 patients who are employees of Truong Minh Company based in the An Don IP were tested positive for the virus. As reported that all of them had came into contact with the confirmed COVID-19 case.

Encouragingly, more than 9,200 people from the An Don IP and Da Nang International Airport have tested negative for the virus, CDC Da Nang announced on Thursday morning.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG, XUAN DUNG - Translating by A.T