Da Nang is racing against time to speed up tracking, contact tracing, isolating and testing mission with high determinations and great efforts in a bid to to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.

A medical worker collecting a throat and nose swab from a stall holder at the Phuoc My Market

COVID-19 testing conducted on about 1,300 stall holders at local traditional markets 

On Wednesday morning, the Son Tra District Medical Centre staff took a combined throat and nose swabs from a total of 511 people who are stall holders in Phuoc My traditional market and nearby residents to test for COVID - 19. All of them are negative for the deadly virus once.

The market was one of the places a female massage therapist who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, coded patient No. 2989 in Viet Nam, had visited, according to the recent release of her travel history. Here, the patient came into close contact with many stall holders who did not wear face masks.

Meanwhile, doctor Vo Van Ty, Head of the Department of Disease Control at the Cam Le District Medical Centre said, on Thursday morning, throat and nose swabs were collected for COVID-19 testing from about 800 stall holders in the Cam Le traditional market, also one of the places the aforementioned patient No. 2989 had visited.

Till date, the Cam Le District authorities have identified 10 F1 (close contacts) and more than 30 F2 (direct contacts of F1) cases linked to the aforementioned COVID-19 patient. All F1 persons have had their swab samples taken for testing and put under quarantine at a Lien Chieu District - based dormitory in the western part of the city.

Tests on 672 medical workers and patients at the Hoan My Da Nang Hospital where a 28-year-old man infected with COVID-19 from Hoi An, coded patient had came for a medical checkup before receiving a positive result have came back negative for the virus in first round, the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control (CDC Da Nang) announced on Wednesday evening.

The spraying of chemical disinfectants has been also carried out in the above-mentioned venues, as well as residence places and surrounding areas where F1 persons live. Meanwhile, the F2 cases are being isolated and monitored at home.

The spraying of chemical disinfectants is carried out at areas nearby the Phuoc My Market

Contact-tracing, isolation and testing intensified

Contact-tracing, isolation and testing, for the time being, is now deployed in a prompt yet effective manner, and on an around-the-clock basis. 

In addition to the collection of swab samples from those at the above-mentioned markets for COVID-19 testing, the local healthcare staff will conduct tests on staff members at spas, discotheques, karaoke parlors, and massage facilities across the city. These venues are listed in the travel history of the COVID-19 patients recently confirmed in the city.

Major General Vu Xuan Vien, Director of the municipal Department of Police, said that, in order to make tracing more effective, teams of local police officers and men have been actively involved in tracking travel history of infected persons by resorting to various methods, including the use of images recorded by security cameras available at their visited venues, in a bid to quickly track F1 and F2 cases.

As planned, swab sample will be collected for COVID-19 testing from a total of 10,000 people serving at more than 526 voting venues at the upcoming elections of deputies to the 15^th National Assembly and all-level People's Councils for the 2021-2026 tenure, which is slated to take place on May 23.

The compulsory concentrated COVID-19 quarantine period in Viet Nam has been officially extended to 21 days.

The mandatory concentrated quarantine for those enter Viet Nam from abroad or had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases will be extended from the current 14 days to 21 days, and the new regulation takes effect from May 5, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has said.

The decision was made after consultation with epidemiologists and virologists in light of new variants of the virus prompting revisions to our knowledge of disease incubation time, he said.
The new protocol aims to “protect the community from the spread of coronavirus” amid recent cases found positive following the completion of 14-day quarantine, Long said.

The minister requested local health departments and centres for disease control to strictly comply with concentrated quarantine protocols to avoid cross-infection within quarantine facilities and transfer people who have completed concentrated quarantine to the authorities in their residence.

Reporting by LE HUNG, XUAN DUNG-  Translating by A.T