Vietnam’s Ministry of Health on May 4 asked health authorities nationwide to extend the mandatory quarantine period after dozens of Covid-19 cases are infected from those who finished the isolation.

A pandemic-hit area in Hanoi. Photo: Dan Tri

The new regulation will be applied from May 4 until further notice.

Directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Preventive Medicine Departments in cities and provinces are required to suspend the discharge of people who completed the two-week quarantine even though they are tested negative for the virus.

The new move follows the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 on April 29 in which three persons, including an Indian expert, a Vietnamese national and a Chinese expert, who completed the compulsory quarantine have infected nearly 30 others.

Vietnam has imposed the mandatory 14-day quarantine and required the next 14-day self-isolation with medical supervision at home by health authorities.

Dr Tran Van Phuc at Saint Paul Hospital in Hanoi said the 14-day quarantine is suitable as the majority of Covid-19 patients have a median time of five days from exposure to symptoms onset, only 10% have the incubation period longer but less than 14 days, and just few having the incubation of 21 days.

The resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 has forced Vietnam to activate the Covid-19 alert system, requiring all stakeholders to the fight against the pandemic.

At present, Vietnam is quarantining nearly 40,000 people who are Vietnamese returnees, foreign diplomats, experts, and high-skilled workers.