Vietnam will require all residents to make compulsory medical declaration from March 10 in an effort to curb the outbreak of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam at the meeting on March 8. Photo: VGP

The declaration will contribute to the national combat against the Covid-19 epidemic, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, said at a meeting on Sunday morning.

Health information will be used merely for the prevention and control of the epidemic, according to the committee.

The Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Health, Vietnam Social Security, and IT agencies will assume responsibility for the implementation.

So far, Vietnam has required compulsory medical declaration for all people coming to the country. But the move is not enough when the country has already entered the second phase of the battle against the epidemic, the deputy PM said, noting that this phase is much more severe.

Compulsory health declaration is required after a Vietnamese woman ignored the request when she returned to the country from a European trip that included a visit to Lombardy, an epicenter in Italy.

After she tested positive with the new coronavirus on March 6, Vietnam found 13 more cases within two days, including 10 on the same Vietnam Airlines flight as her.

Vietnam has identified crew members and passengers of the flight and applied quarantine and medical check.

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam predicted that the number of infection cases will continue rising in the days ahead.

The northern province of Quang Ninh has become the first locality to require the health declaration. Since March 8, around 300,000 residents in Ha Long city have filled out medical inquiries after four foreign visitors got infected with the virus. The visitors were on board the same plane from London to Hanoi as the woman who was the first infected case of Hanoi.