Seawater samples have already been taken from Da Nang’s beaches and at coastal waste water discharge outlets for testing the quality.

Locals and visitors are seen swimming at the Phuoc My public bathing area.

The task came after many local residents and tourists had suffered itchy rashes on some part of their bodies after swimming at beaches in recent hot sweltering days.

In her recent Facebook complaint, local female resident Dang Thuy Hang said her 10-year-old daughter’s skin became irritated and itchy after only 5 minutes of swimming at the T20 Beach.  The little girl then went to see a dermatologist for treatment.

Mrs Hang added that, at that time, many swimmers also suffered nasty rashes like her daughter, and the majority of them are children and women.

According to Mr Tran Dai Nghia, the Deputy Head of the Management Board of the Son Tra Peninsula and Da Nang Tourism Beaches, many people complained that they become itchy after swimming at beaches stretching from Son Tra to Ngu Hanh Son districts over the past 10 days.

Mr Nghia said the latest samples of sea water at these beaches were taken on Tuesday, and his unit had earlier appealed for an urgent test of seawater quality on 26 June.

Meanwhile, Mr Mai Ma, the Director of the city’s Water Drainage and Wastewater Treatment Company, affirmed that domestic waste water discharged into the sea from such coastal discharge outlets as My An and My Khe is unlikely to cause itchiness amongst swimmers.

In Mr Ma’s point of view, the post-swimming rashes might be caused by direct contact with a certain kind of algae or marine creatures which have been on the rise in the current context of the prolonged heatwave, but this incident will stop as the hot spell ends some days later.

However, Mr Ma noted that a test is necessary to confirm the cause.

According to Mr Le Quang Nam, the Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, long-lasting scorching weather-sparked red jellyfish is initially thought to be responsible for the itchy rashes.

The final conclusion for the cause of the rashes will come out in the next several days, and then will be publicly announced to the general public.

The results of the tests conducted on 19 June did not show any pollution or poor quality because sea water quality parameters are within allowable limits and they entirely meet the national standards for swimming and water sports activities.

There are currently a total of 10 seawater quality monitoring sites along beaches in the districts of Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son, and the Da Nang Bay, and seawater evaluations are carried out once a month.