Da Nang on May 29 began setting up 15 checkpoints at major entry and exit points to enforce COVID-19 rules on all arrivals. Police and other involved personnel have been deployed to these checkpoints. They are working around the clock in an attempt to stop new arrivals from bringing the deadly pathogen into the city.

Visitors to Da Nang must complete an online health declaration form to obtain a QR code to show on arrival in Da Nang. Picture is taken at a checkpoint in the extended Nguyen Tat Thanh route. Photo: LE HUNG

Great efforts of staff at COVID-19 checkpoints

The personnel staffing at checkpoints include the police, military forces, medical workers, interpreters, and others signed up to these venues as volunteers. We have obsevered that despite sweltering temperatures and sunshine, police at checkpoints have worked tirelessly to conduct COVID-19 related stop checks on vehicles entering the city. All arrivals in the city are required to have their body temperature measured and complete an online health declaration form to obtain a QR code.

Mr Ngo Duc, Head of the Hoa Lien Commune Medical Centre in Hoa Vang District and Head of a checkpoint at the extended Nguyen Tat Thanh route said that if visitors are subject to mandatory isolation, the functional forces will use an ambulance to carry them to a dormitory in the western side of Da Nang for quarantine. Meanwhile,  if visitors are subject to self-isolation, they will be closely monitored at their accommodation addresses in the city by local authorites and medical workers, and get COVID-19 testing order in line with the city’s COVID-19 rules.

In a similar vein, staff at a checkpoint on National Highway 1A in Hoa Phuoc Commune, Hoa Vang District, are working very hard to adopt best practice for checking vehicles entering the city and all arrivals.
Colonel Tran Dinh Chung, Deputy Director of the Department of Police, asked officers staffing at checkpoints to take precautions to protect themselves and others from coronavirus, as well as take action to timely detect suspected cases in an effort to reduce the risk of bringing the deadly pathogen into the city.

Colonel Tran Dinh Chung said that the police from Lien Chieu, Ngu Hanh Son and Hoa Vang districts have been deployed at trails and open borders between Da Nang and its neighbours namelyThua Thien - Hue and Quang Nam provinces to proactively detect suspected cases.

Encouraging visitors to the city to use digital applications to declare health status

The functional forces at all checkpoints have already installed the eTicket application on smart devices to scan and check visitors' QR Codes. All visitors to Da Nang are required to complete an online health form to obtain a QR code to show on arrival at any checkpoint across the city.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Hong Hai, Head of the Hoa Nhon Traffic Police Station, as of the morning of May 30, officers at a checkpoint on National Highway 14B (Hoa Vang district) had stopped 218 vehicles and measured body temperature for 517 arrivals, but no suspected cases had been found.

“Currently, all checkpoints are equipped with QR Code scanners, creating convenience for visitors to declare their health status and reduce the workload of task force at the checkpoint. Despite the heat, the task force at checkpoints always upholds the sense of responsibility and do their utmost to fulfill their assigned tasks, contributing to keeping coronavirus out of the city," said Lieutenant Colonel Pham Hong Hai.

Reporting by LE HUNG – XUAN DUNG – Translating by H.L