Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang emphasized at an online meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control on Sunday afternoon that a total of 173 confirmed cases have been detected during the two rounds of the city-wide ‘One door-one test’ campaign. Of these cases, 81 have been reported from Hai Chau District which is the new epicenter of the pandemic in Da Nang, Mr Quang said.

Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang (left) and municipal People’s Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh (right) co-chaired an online meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control on the afternoon of August 22. Photo: LE HUNG

Secretary Quang remarked that apart from Hai Chau District, Cam Le and Thanh Khe districts are at most risk of coronavirus resurgence. Hence, he urged the health agency and the municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to work with the three affected districts to roll out the next round of mass community testing in the most effective way to find all cases.

The Da Nang top leader stressed the need for authorities in Hai Chau District, especially Hoa Cuong Nam Ward with highest number of people who went shopping for food items in the Hoa Cuong wholesale market cluster to quickly roll out mass testing for all residents in their local areas and emerging disease hotspots in an attempt to break the chains of transmission.

A healthcare worker is taking nasal swab of a household representative in the city to test for COVID-19. Photo: LE HUNG

Municipal People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh called for continued efforts of authorities at local level and relevant units to follow the guidelines from the municipal government and health bodies to curb the spread of the virus.

The Da Nang government leader directed the taskforce to tighten controls on shippers who are allowed to operate in the city from today, August 23, as well as increase patrols to take strict action against COVID-19 rule violators in a bid to ensure effective implementation of strong measures in line with the current direction for the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chairman Chinh demanded authorities at local level and the health agency to work together to roll out mass testing and vaccination program in safe and effective practices in the next 3 days.

Mr Chinh said that the Da Nang government will look at the results of the third round of mass community testing to identify next steps in the city’s COVID-19 response after August 26.    

According to the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the taskforce at checkpoints at entry points on Sunday, August 22, conducted COVID-19 checks on 4,380 vehicles, during which, requiring 5,627 people to have their body temperature measured and declare their health status, along with conducting rapid tests for 337 people. In addition, 7 vehicles were refused entry into the city.

Also on Sunday, fines of VND 205.5 million were imposed on 23 people for breaking the city’s COVID-19 rules. In total, over VND 3.46 billion worth of fines have been levied on 1,012 violators of the city’s COVID-19 restrictions since June 18, according to latest figures released by the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Reporting by LE HUNG – Translating by H.L