After Ho Chi Minh City has confirmed its first cases of community transmission of COVID-19 over recent days, Da Nang government has begun to take proactive actions to avoid another wave of this deadly virus, especially amidst the cold weather is prevailing in the city.

The transportation of Vietnamese returnees from the Da Nang airport to quarantine facilities on 1 December in progress

Of special note, functional local agencies have geared up ensuring the public compliance with the Health Ministry’s message featuring 5K (in Vietnamese): namely ‘Khau trang’ (Face mask) – ‘Khu khuan’ (Disinfection) – ‘Khoang cach’ ‘Distance’ - ‘Khong tu tap’ (No gathering) – ‘Khai bao y te’ (Health Declaration).

According to Director of the municipal Department of Health Ngo Thi Kim Yen, over recent times, hundreds of Vietnamese returnees from the U.S. which is the world’s biggest Covid-19 hotspot arrived in Da Nang. Da Nang is imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all Vietnamese returnees from overseas following Viet Nam's national government’s guidelines.

In detail, in-flight safety and preventive measures are rigorously enforced to protect the passengers’ health and prevent the spread of the disease. All of the passengers are required to clean their hands and have their health checked before boarding, as well as wear face masks and personal protective gears and limit the intake of foods during the flight.

All passengers and crew members receive medical check-ups on arrival in Da Nang, and they are sent to designated quarantine facilities in line with the national regulations. After that, all passengers and flight crews will have their swab and blood serum samples taken for coronavirus testing.

In particular, according to the Ministry of Health, foreign experts who on short-term working trips, must test negative for coronavirus with real time-PCR technique by certified labs in their countries from three to five days prior to the date of entry to Viet Nam.

Also, entry and exit points must be rearranged to make separate lanes for experts, avoiding contact with other people. The experts must also produce the negative tests at entry time, comply with such Covid-19 measures as health declarations, body temperature checks and screenings. Also, they are advised to install and use Bluezone, Viet Nam’s contact tracing app available on both Android and iOS platforms, during their stay in Viet Nam.

Vietnamese returnees receiving health check-up and they were sent to designated quarantine facilities on 29 November on their arrival in Da Nang.

Colonel Nguyen Quang Vinh, Deputy Commander of the municipal Military High Command said there are currently two military facilities serving as quarantine sites for all Vietnamese returnees from overseas.

One is the Lien Chieu District-based National Defence and Security Training Centre and the other is the Hoa Vang District-located Dong Xanh - Dong Nghe Pre-mobilization Training Centre, and both of them can accommodate a combined total of about 450 people.

Meanwhile, 19 accommodation establishments across the city, with a combined total of about 1,200 rooms and 2,300 beds, have registered to serve as temporary quarantine sites for all arrivals from overseas to Da Nang with the quarantine fees charged, and the majority of them are located in Son Tra District.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has already ordered a temporary halt to arranging new voluntary commercial repatriation flights wishing to fly home (in which the Vietnamese national overseas would pay for the flight and quarantine fees back in the country), but repatriation flights to bring home Vietnamese nationals in dire situations will still be organised.

It is expected that Da Nang and other localities across Viet Nam will receive additional repatriation flights in the coming time. Therefore, it is high time for Da Nang to set up new quarantine facilities, Colonel Nguyen Quang Vinh explained.

Till date, 240 repatriation flights have been operated to bring home more than 66,000 Vietnamese nationals from over 50 countries and territories worldwide.

Previously, in fact, a male native of Da Nang who had been in close contact with a new Viet Nam positive case in the community in Ho Chi Minh City tested negative for the virus.

By PHAN CHUNG- Translated by A.T