The Hospital for Tropical Diseases
Social distancing rules currently differ from district to district. Depending on the situation, some locations will see social distancing rules tightened. For example, Directive 15 only bans meetings and events with more than 20 people and a gathering of 10 people in public places. Meanwhile, Directive 16 asks residents to only go out when necessary and a group of more than two people are banned in public places.
The social distancing rules in Go Vap District and Thanh Loc Ward in District 12, which are the hotspots of the ongoing outbreak, will be loosened from Directive 16 to Directive 15. Nguyen Tan Binh, director of HCM City Department of Health, said after two weeks, the outbreak connected to a Christian sect has been curbed in Go Vap and Thanh Loc. Most of the new cases are reported in quarantine centres.
However, while the number of new patients related to known patient 0s have decreased, HCM City is discovering new cases from unknown patient 0s. It is more worrisome when new cases are found in a hospital or industrial zone. As of now, new Covid-19 cases have been found in five hospitals including Tan Phu Hospital, Nam Sai Gon Hospital, Children's Hospital 1, Gia Dinh People's Hospital and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
"This virus variant spread very quickly among family members, co-workers and neighbours," Binh said. "The virus already spread and two weeks is the incubation period. Applying Directive 15 during this time will help prevent the spread of the virus."
Phong said they would see how everything goes next week.
In the second week of social distancing, HCM City recorded 310 Covid-19 cases. The city authorities have arranged more quarantine centres and improved testing capability. They are considering using the Oncology Hospital with 1,000 beds to serve Covid-19 patients. Fields hospitals may be set up at stadiums with 5,000 beds.
The city planned to give the first Covid-19 vaccine shots to 71,900 people in priority groups from June 3 to July 10.
