Chu Xuan Dung, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee has asked local units to speed up the Covid-19 contact tracing, with the application of information technology and the participation of the police force.

 “If  we are slow, the work will be very difficult. Traceability goes along with testing, isolating the second generation of infections (F1) and strictly monitoring F2 at home,” Vice Chairman Dung told a meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on April 30 in Hanoi.

A checkpoint in Quan Nhan village, Ha Nam province's Dao Ly commune. Photo: kinhtedothi.vn

Tightening quarantine period

As of April 30, Vietnam has recorded fourteen new local infections, including ten imported cases, two in Hanoi and two in its neighboring province of Ha Nam. 

The two cases of local transmission are related to the cluster of confirmed positive cases in Ha Nam, while the two others in Hanoi are those exposed to a confirmed coronavirus carrier in Ha Nam.

At the meeting, a leader of Dong Anh district proposed priority should be given to testing all people in the area where cases of Covid-19 were found.  

People after undergoing a mandatory 14-day quarantine still need to be strictly monitored to prevent a recurrence of cases like that of patient No. 2899. The patient, a male migrant worker, who returned from Japan to the northern province of Ha Nam didnot strictly comply with the 14-day self -quarantine at home while meeting and infecting many people around him, including some in Dong Anh district.

Vice Chairman Dung requested relevant sector and Dong Anh district to work harder to curb the transmission, increase inspection and fine anyone ignoring disease prevention and control measures. 

He concluded at the meeting that Vietnamese citizens returning home after 14 days of concentrated isolation must undergo strict self-isolation at home, be strictly observed by  local authorities.

With the rapid spread of the virus, Dung emphasized: “Testing needs to be faster to properly implement formula 4-6.” 

The formula means that after four hours the locality must send samples for Covid-19 testing, and  six hours later, the Center for Disease Control has to report results to the locality.

Late last year, a Vietnam Airlines attendant breached Covid-19 regulations while undergoing self-isolation at home, leading to an outbreak. His act caused material losses of over VND4.4billion (US$193,870), and altered lives of over 2,000 people in the city who were put in quarantine for directly and indirectly making contacts with him.