Quang Ninh expands COVID-19 testing on risky groups

Taking sample for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – , head of the National
Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, has agreed with the
northern province of Quang Ninh on conducting large-scale testing in areas with outbreaks instead
of conducting the test on all local residents.

At an
online meeting with leaders of the Ministry of Health and the province where the COVID-19 pandemic is developing complicatedly, Deputy PM Dam hailed Quang Ninh’s
persistent policy of limiting the scale of quarantine and lockdown to the smallest possible to minimise negative effects on people’s life, encouraging
the locality to continue this spirit.

According
to Director of the Health Department of Quang Ninh Nguyen Trong Dien, the
locality has traced 81,698 people related to COVID-19 cases down to the F4 level and discovered 42
infections.

Currently,
the province has completed testing on 36,267 people while speeding up the
tracing of people having high risk of infection, and improving its testing
capacity.

As
scheduled, on February 4 afternoon, all pandemic-hit areas in Quang Ninh will take
samples of local elderly people with underlying diseases, drivers working on their own or for private transport firms, supermarket workers, traders at wet markets, medical staff and in-patients in hospitals and staff at quarantine facilities for testing, he said.

Dien said
that is facing a number of difficulties, including those in information provision and a shortage of medical bio-products, chemicals and
equipment. He asked for support from the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile,
Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s
Council Nguyen Xuan Ky said that the province will accelerate tracing work and gathering medical
declarations of all local residents to reduce risks.

Quang Ninh
aims to complete the collection of samples for COVID-19 testing in the next two days, said
Ky.

He declared
that the situation is under good control, adding that Quang Ninh aims to not only contain the COVID-19 outbreak but also ensure production and business at the same
time, especially during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet).

At the
meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong agreed with Quang Ninh on
expanding groups subjected for testing, and pledged to provide support for the province in the form of medical machines./.