Technology is at the top of industries having gone through dynamic change due to the Covid-19 outbreak that has hit Vietnam since early last year.

A Hanoian is scanning QR Code for health declaration at the People's Committee of Nghia Tan Ward. Photo: laodong.vn

By supplying technologies, including solutions for testing, tracing, isolation and vaccination, many Vietnamese tech firms have made a significant contribution to the country’s fight against the pandemic.

The automatic temperature measurement gate, a result of the collaboration between Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) and TMA Innovation, has been launched this year to check the body temperature of people passing by and alert if the temperature is high, as well as reminding people to wear face masks. 

Tran Phuc Hong, Managing Director of TMA Innovation, told The Hanoi Times that the system aims to reduce direct contact between people and limit disease transmission risks in the community. It has been installed in some buildings of Ho Chi Minh City and is expected to be used in quarantine areas this year.

In the past two years, Hong said QTSC and TMA Innovation have provided many solutions using artificial intelligence (Al), Internet of Things (IoT), Robots, drones, and 5G to limit direct contact amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

CEO Nguyen Tu Quang of Bkav, a Vietnamese cybersecurity firm, said AI is exerting its power in the fight against Covid-19 in Vietnam and may prove its effectiveness more.

Quang said Al cameras can detect who is not wearing a face mask but the medical team cannot keep a close eye on them all time. "AI is exerting its power in the fight against Covid-19 in Vietnam and may prove its effectiveness more." 

He said his company is researching a Covid-19 testing device using Al technology that can quickly define whether a person is infected with Covid-19 or not. 

“The device analyses saltwater with which the people gargle and give the result ten seconds later. The solution takes less time than the previous testing methods do,” Quang said.

He said the company has cooperated with the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases since last December to test the device. The initial results are very positive, with an accuracy of over 90%.

“If this device proves successful after wider scale trial, it would change Vietnam's strategy of the Covid-19 prevention and control. I think it will also change the strategy in the world,” he told The Hanoi Times.

“As the disease has spread quickly and wide in the latest wave of Covid-19, the device is expected to help the country detect high-risk regions and infection cases quickly and accurately with low cost,” Quang said.

The automatic temperature measurement gate is conducted by QTSC and TMA Innovation

This device is one of several solutions developed by the Bkav and being applied for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam. Bluezone, a contact tracing app, has been widely used by Vietnamese people amid the pandemic.

The app has helped detect 735 Covid-19 infection cases and more than 4,625 cases of close contact as of May. 

Until May 24, up to 34 million people of a national population of nearly 100 million people, have downloaded the Bluezone app. The application will be most effective when more than 60% of the country’s adult population install it.

The Bluezone is part of the Make-in-Vietnam application set for Covid-19 prevention, control, and tracing in the community, among others including NCOVI (the voluntary health declaration app), the electronic health declaration upon arrival, a system to record people coming and going to public places using QR code, and the Covid-19 safe living map system (antoancovid.vn).

In Bac Giang and Bac Ninh provinces, the two Covid-19 epicenters at the moment, technology solutions are being aggressively applied and helped support the control of the outbreak effectively. It is part of the government strategy on pandemic prevention and control based on the principle of “5K plus vaccine and technology”.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said at the recent meeting held in Hanoi that Vietnamese digital businesses are joining hands to fight the pandemic. 

“I hope some of these applications will go global and contribute to helping the world combat the pandemic successfully,” he said.