Special solutions at the forefront of COVID-19 fight

Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy Minister of Health

COVID-19 is still spreading in Danang city and other localities in the central region. What are the main issues in battling against the pandemic in this period?

In the first stage of COVID-19 development, the country suffered a serious virus outbreak at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi. At that time, some workers at Truong Sinh Vietnam Foods Co., Ltd. and some caregivers were infected.

The new outbreak has occurred more widely than in the first stage. It was first detected at Danang Hospital and then spread to other hospitals, infecting many patients and their relatives as well as health workers at three hospitals. Many victims sadly passed away because of underlying diseases, while some others have high risk of death due to serious background pathology.

Moreover, we are also facing more difficulties in tracing, zoning, and stamping out the pandemic than in the first phase. Besides the traced patients, we found some infections who did not stay in affected areas and are not related to the three hospitals.

At present, the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and the related branches in Danang, and the provinces of Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai have taken strong actions strictly in line with the prime minister’s directions. If all people in the virus risk areas abide by Directive No.16/CT-TTg on the urgent solutions to prevention and fight against COVID-19, we hope we can control the virus.

Why does Danang need to have nationwide assistance, and what are the focuses in the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) mobilisation works for this new outbreak?

The virus has infected a vast number of patients and their relatives, as well as healthcare workers. In addition, the tracing in the community requires the involvement of many more experts. Therefore, it needs more support and assistance from central sources, as well as hospitals that can assist with treatment and build accommodation for COVID-19 patients.

The MoH has made a drastic response to the new outbreak in Danang. Right after the virus was detected, the ministry sent six specialised teams from various hospitals, departments, and institutes to the city. On July 30, we sent our four special standing units to the area to mobilise all resources for COVID-19 prevention.

These units are the testing team (National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, and Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang), treatment team (from Bach Mai and Cho Ray hospitals), tracing team (the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology), and a communications team.

The number of COVID-19 infections in Vietnam continues to increase. How will the pandemic develop in the upcoming days, and what is the next step in prevention?

The MoH has taken the best possible measures and solutions in coronavirus prevention and fight in Danang. We are trying to take even better ones such as expanding testing capacity, and increasing the capacity of our tracing team and treatment team.

The tracing of F0 (the first infected people) in Danang is now not the main target. We are instead focusing on antibody tests to detect infected cases in the community, and trace the people who have had contact with infected individuals.

The number of COVID-19 patients may still rise in the upcoming days and, although we have been taking drastic measures to trace and zone to stamp out the outbreak, we should not be overly optimistic.

By analysing the infection of the virus, the healthcare industry recommends that people should be more careful in the upcoming time, and strictly abide by the virus prevention recommendations.