New COVID-19 testing strategy needed: Experts

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam, head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, chairs the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Experts have suggested a review is needed of Vietnam’s testing strategy, in particular stepping up antigen testing, to match the developments of the COVID-19 epidemic in the country.

The steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, at a meeting in Hanoi on September 3, therefore assigned the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health to help businesses and units in studying and implementing the antigen testing method.

Regarding a scenario of 10,000 COVID-19 cases, the committee asked the Ministry of Health to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in building a new testing strategy and present it shortly to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

The finance ministry reported that Vietnam has so far spent nearly 400 million USD fighting the pandemic.

Professor Dang Duc Anh, head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said that as antigen testing can produce accurate results in a short period of time, it should be used in public places like airports and concentrated quarantine areas, contributing to effectively fighting the pandemic.

The institute is working with the US on the transfer of the testing technology, which is expected to be rolled out in Vietnam at an early date, he added.

Other delegates at the meeting proposed Vietnam use all testing methods, including antigen testing and Realtime-LAMP, and that businesses join hands in the testing work.

According to the health ministry, as of 3 pm on September 3, Vietnam had 1,046 COVID-19 cases, including 748 recoveries and 35 deaths.

The ministry pointed to the risk of community transmission, particularly in the time ahead, when weather conditions are more favourable for the development of respiratory diseases.

Preventive measures therefore need to be maintained and enhanced, it said.