Vietnam’s Health Minister Mentions 3 Changes in Anti-COVID-19 Strategy

Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has mentioned three changes in the country’s anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) strategy while addressing a virtual meeting with local health authorities on February 5. The first change is the increase of samples in group tests to 10-16 for each test from only five in the outbreak in Danang in July. The second change is quarantine regulations for children. Under-five-year-old children will be isolated at home under strict supervision of local health authorities. Over-six-year-old children will be quarantined at camps for the first seven days and after being tested negative, they will be isolated at home. The third change is to facilitate the transportation of goods from pandemic-hit localities to other localities. Mr. Long highlighted that if local authorities ensure their testing capabilities, they can allow drivers, who have been tested negative twice a day, to transport their goods out of pandemic-hit areas. Since the start of the new outbreak on January 28, Vietnam recorded 375 community infections, all of whom are related to the country’s two biggest infection clusters of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh provinces. (VnExpress, VnExpress)