“Covid-19 outbreak in Hanoi frontline hospital may be caused by cross-infection”

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Doctor Nguyen Hong Ha, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Society of Infectious Diseases said with 38 Covid-19 community transmissions confirmed as of the evening of May 6, the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases has become an outbreak. Although the result of gene sequencing hasn’t been disclosed yet, the virus variant triggering the latest outbreak in the hospital is quickly spreading. The authorities are rushing to investigate and trace to identify the source of transmission. Experts have also given different hypotheses about the infection source, Vnexpress reported.

There are many reasons leading to the quick spread of Covid-19 in the hospital. He leaned towards the assumption of cross-infection as the hospital had received and treated many Covid-19 patients as well as patients with normal diseases. Even though the treating areas for these two patient types lie separately, the risk of cross-transmission is very high.

“This is inevitable. In the world, many heads of state were strictly protected, but they still contracted the novel coronavirus,” Ha said.

Military personnel disinfects the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Photo: Vnexpress

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases is a frontline hospital in treating Covid-19 cases in the North since 2020. To date, it has treated 605 cases, including many severe ones who need to use extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). As many as 131 Covid-19 patients have underwent treatment here.

In three days from May 4-6, the hospital logged 38 locally transmitted cases including 3 medical workers, patients, and their family members. It has been placed under lockdown starting May 5.

Tran Dac Phu, Senior Advisor to the Health Ministry’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center also agreed with Ha’s viewpoint. Covid-19 patients may infect the virus to other patients and medical workers, he said.

"Every day, the hospital has to receive and treat many Covid-19 patients, including those who are under quarantine and haven’t tested positive with the virus. Hence, infection control is very hard,” he emphasized.

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. Photo: Vnexpress

There are many problems related to infection control in hospitals such as wearing protective clothes, disinfecting, wearing face masks, receiving, testing, and treating Covid-19 patients, etc. During these processes, medical workers may touch nCoV-containing surfaces, not don face masks all the time, etc.

Apart from the cross-infection, Phu supposed the latest coronavirus outbreak may derive from the fact that a person contracts the virus in the community and then infects medical workers and patients when he/she comes to the hospital or family members of patients and medical workers contract the virus in the community and then infects other medical workers and patients.

"The immediate solution is quarantining and reviewing procedures in the transmission prevention and control,” said Phu.

Earlier, a male doctor at the hospital tested positive for the coronavirus during an overseas trip. His close contacts are being traced in Dong Anh, Ba Dinh, Dong Da, Tay Ho, and Hoang Mai districts. His residence in Ba Dinh’s Ngoc Khanh Ward has been locked down as well.

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