Hanoi plans large-scale testing to prevent COVID-19

Authorities in Hanoi have proposed buying an additional 200,000 COVID-19 test kits to conduct large-scale testing.

Authorities in Hanoi have proposed buying an additional 200,000 COVID-19 test kits to conduct large-scale testing.

A dormitory at the Hanoi High Technology Vocational School in Nam Tu Liem district will be used to quarantine Vietnamese people returning from COVID-19-affected countries and territories. (Photo: VNA)

Around 20,000 Vietnamese people were expected to return to Hanoi in the coming days so the city was preparing to screen them all to prevent the disease from spreading, with a focus on those travelling from abroad, said Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung at a meeting of the city’s Steering Committee on COVID-19 prevention and control on March 20.

As of 18:00 on March 20, Hanoi had recorded 25 cases with no fatalities.

Chairman Chung said over 70% of COVID-19 patients in Hanoi were young, which was different from the case in China’s Wuhan City and Italy, where the rates of old people infected with the virus was over 80%. It showed complicated and unexpected developments of the disease in the capital with people of different ages at risk to infections.

Hanoi plans to allocate 1,000 hospital beds for treating COVID-19 patients as well as suspected cases.

In order to prepare for the quarantine of tens of thousands of Vietnamese people returning to the country, apart from setting up 12 quarantine areas, the city is upgrading an old facility at Me Linh Hospital to treat COVID-19 patients, with a capacity of 200 beds.

Chairman Chung confirmed that the pandemic in the city was still under control and dismissed speculation on social media that authorities were poised to announce a total lockdown across the city to combat the pandemic.