Loosening Social Distancing in Hanoi: Depends on Large-scale Covid Test

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Hanoi will partly rely on the test results of 800,000 samples to decide on measures to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic in the near future. Photo: TienPhong

According to the conclusion of the Hanoi Party Committee, the risk of pandemic spread in the capital remains high and unpredictable; the large-scale testing, cough and fever screening tests in the community still recorded new cases; there may be other cases of F0 in the community that have not been detected. In the blockade areas, there are still many F0s due to inadequate tracking or implementation of "tight outside, loose inside."

The Hanoi Party Committee requested districts to continue to arrange and improve the effectiveness of checkpoints for pandemic prevention and control at streets and alleys.

Districts continue to promote well the role of Covid-19 community groups, strictly controlling both outside and inside, especially in areas that have been blocked due to F0.

Taking samples for large-scale testing phase 2

Regarding the "campaign" to take samples for testing for high-risk subjects, people living in high-risk areas and blockade areas, according to a report by the Hanoi Department of Health, as of noon on August 19, the city obtained 276,888 samples, of which 53,734 samples were negative, the remaining samples are waiting for results.

Khong Minh Tuan, deputy director of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC) said that the collection of 800,000 samples for the second large-scale testing will be reported to city leaders for consideration as one of the conditions to decide whether to continue or stop social distancing.

“Currently, the number of samples with new results is very small, if after taking 800,000 samples, there are many negative results, it will be a positive signal in zoning F0 in the community. But if there are many positive samples in the community, the risk is still very high," said Tuan.

In the context of the pandemic is still complicated and unpredictable, Hanoi will consider whether to continue implementing social distancing or not. Photo: Dantri

According to Tuan, the city has implemented strict anti-pandemic measures, especially one month of social distancing, if social distancing is stopped, the travel volume will be huge. “The decision to continue social distancing or not will depend on many factors, but it is certainly not possible to fully reopen. We may not implement Directive 16 but will switch to Directive 15 or Directive 19. This will be considered and decided by the city leadership in the near future,” he said.

Hanoi to continue social distancing

Analyzing this decision, Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong said that from July 24 to August 6 (after nearly 2 weeks of implementing Directive 17 of the City People's Committee), Hanoi has achieved initial positive results. That result is thanks to the participation of the whole political system, especially the people, businesses and units from the central to the city that have agreed and supported. Public opinion as well as experts assess that the city's implementation of social distancing is timely.

Photo: Tuoitre

However, Phong added, during this time, there are also difficulties and complications, especially the development of a very high-risk pandemic, because Hanoi is the center of the country, the national key traffic hub.

"Therefore, if we stop the social distancing, the results achieved during the recent social distancing period will be difficult to maintain," said Deputy Secretary Nguyen Van Phong.

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