HCM City expands testing to find more community cases

The authorities in HCM City have started testing the employees working at bus stations, shopping centres and rental areas after the outbreak at Tan Son Nhat Airport was controlled.

The authorities in HCM City have started testing the employees working at bus stations, shopping centres and rental areas after the outbreak at Tan Son Nhat Airport was controlled.

  

HCM City expands testing to find more community cases

The tests were immediately carried out on February 11. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said that the outbreak in HCM City was different from the outbreaks in other provinces and cities.

"We have F1 patients whose tests are negative but F2 patients whose tests were positive. It's possible that the F2 patients weren't infected from F1 patients but from other undetected cases in the community," he said.

After meeting with the Department of Health and the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention, Son agreed to carry out tests in vulnerable areas. They want to make sure that there will be no more major outbreaks like the Tan Son Nhat Airport cases. Any new outbreak needed to be found and controlled in time to prevent further spreading.

Antibody tests have been started to be implemented by HCM City CDC and HCM City Pasteur Institute. 30,000 quick test kits will be provided to HCM City soon.

Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the Department of Health said a suspected case was detected after tests were carried out among the families of the employees at Vietnam Airport Ground Services Company Limited on the last day of the lunar December.

"After the expanded testing we'll have more data to analyse the potential risks in the community. Antibody and gene sequencing analysis will reveal which virus variant is spreading in HCM City," he said.

The Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention said they had basically controlled the outbreaks. Expanded testing will help make a better picture and lead to the most suitable solution.