Da Nang People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh on Friday afternoon stated that the city has seen an increasing number of green zones or COVID-19 free areas, proving that Da Nang’s COVID-19 fight shows positive signs. The city’s good results are mainly attributed to great efforts of authorities at local level to contain the spread of the virus with strong determination.

Mr Chinh called for continued efforts to take all necessary measures to protect green zones and promote the expansion of such zones across the city.

Da Nang People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh (right) addressing the city’s COVID-19 Monitoring Committee on Friday afternoon. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Chairman Chinh said that recent new cases were infectious while they were in the community, stating that this virus is still in the community. He remarked that the COVID-19 outbreak has been basically brought under control in the city but the risk of COVID-19 resurgence is never far away.

The city leader called on officials to continue to stay vigilant against COVID-19 and strictly follow the government’s guidelines on infection prevention and control. He highlighted need to conduct regular COVID-19 tests for all people after leaving quarantine for early detection and timely clinical management of COVID-19 cases.

Mr Chinh said the municipal administration will consider further easing COVID-19 restrictions in inter-ward green zones with more essential activities to be allowed to reopen.

According to the municipal Department of Health, the rollout of the city-wide ‘one-door one test’ campaign has been implemented successfully with 268,640 swab samples to be collected for COVID-19 screening.

Doctor Tran Thanh Thuy, the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health, said that 10 active cases were found in scope of the recent city-wide mass testing, and further positive results are expected to be found from repeating testing for suspected cases.

The health agency is very concerned about hidden coronavirus cases in the community as recent new cases with unknown sources have been reported in Da Nang.

Mrs Thuy stressed the need to conduct thorough investigations into new cases and track down all contacts in order to break the chains of transmission.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by H.L