Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has told the Bac Ninh government to consider piloting home quarantining those in direct contact with Covid-19 patients in case quarantine facilities are overloaded.
At a meeting of the national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control with the authorities of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, the two large pandemic hotspots in the country, on May 20, Deputy PM Dam said the quarantine of F1 cases at home would be piloted on a small scale at first, at houses that meet isolation requirements.
These cases will be supervised by their neighbors and through technological devices, the local media reported.
He also asked Bac Ninh to instruct its workers to take their own samples for quick Covid-19 testing under the supervision of medical workers.
The province should learn from Danang to conduct group testing, the deputy prime minister added.
Meanwhile, Bac Giang should install cameras and other technological tools at quarantine sites.
At the meeting, Bac Giang Chairman Le Anh Duong said after closing four industrial parks and imposing social distancing measures in four districts and Bac Giang City, the province has also managed to monitor all the workers linked to the pandemic hotspots, including those under quarantine in centralized facilities and at home.
Its Covid-19 testing capacity has reached 100,000 group samples per day, Duong said, adding that the province has eight hospitals with 1,280 beds for Covid-19 treatment, while another field hospital with 300 beds would be ready on May 25 and yet another 600-bed hospital is being set up.
The province will continue testing those in high-risk areas. As many as 900,000 residents in areas under lockdown and undergoing social distancing have made health declarations.
In the coming days, the number of Covid-19 cases in the province will rise but they are all in quarantine centers, Duong said.
Meanwhile, Bac Ninh Chairwoman Nguyen Huong Giang said the province had tested samples in groups.
The province has also prepared two field hospitals and tested those in high-risk areas in a bid to prevent the suspension of industrial parks.
The two provinces are jointly working out a plan to ensure the operation of suppliers of large groups, such as Samsung.
Vietnam had earlier regulated that everyone arriving from abroad and those in close contact with Covid-19 patients must be quarantined for 14 days. After testing negative for the virus three times, they must self quarantine at home or lodging facilities for another 14 days.
On May 5, the Ministry of Health decided to extend the centralized quarantine period to 21 days.
This article was originally published in The Saigon Times
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Source: Vietnam Insider