The Da Nang government has announced that from November 7, the city began to roll out its COVID-19 community testing programme to provide tests for asymptomatic people that is people who don’t show any symptoms.

The city will target those most at risk from infection during this screening programme which runs until November 10.

Expansion of testing will find more positive cases following a rise in cases in recent days in attempt to help identify people who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms so that they will be isolated timely, to help prevent outbreaks and keep rates low in Da Nang.  

Representatives of households along with owners, managers, receptionists, service staff, kitchen staff, parking attendants, loading and unloading staff, delivery staff, and others who are working in eating and drinking establishments across Da Nang will be invited to be tested from Sunday, November 7.

The testing will be applied to 30% of staff members assigned to each area of food service establishments. As for eateries with less than 3 employees, at least 1 person will be tested for COVID-19.

In addition, the One-Door One-Test campaign is being rolled out for 30% of the total families in Da Nang. Household representatives being targeted first for community testing are those who are most at risk from infection. Included are people who have returned home from other parts of the country within the past 14 days but have yet to be tested, those who often go out to work or attend events, and do shopping, along with people at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19.

The authorities at local level must take the responsibility for identifying all their target people to be tested, and making the resources available in a bid to conduct asymptomatic testing in fast and effective practices. The intention is to identify individuals who may be incubating infection, to isolate them promptly from the community, and initiate contact tracing to identify individuals who may have been exposed. This will help reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the community.

All testing sites have adequate space to allow social distancing for persons to be invited for corovirus testing. Strictest health measures are being put in place in these venues in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

Members of Youth Union organisation, Women Association, along with Militia, Civil Protection personnel and other volunteers are being deployed to testing sites to ensure the effective rollout of the city’s screening programme.

The Da Nang Center for Disease Control and Prevention can employ a pooled testing strategy for SARS-CoV-2 to in order to save time and resources.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – translating by H.L