Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the NationalSteering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, has agreed with thenorthern province of Quang Ninh on conducting large-scale COVID-19 testing in areas with outbreaks insteadof conducting the test on all local residents.

At anonline meeting with leaders of the Ministry of Health and the province where the COVID-19 pandemic is developing complicatedly, Deputy PM Dam hailed Quang Ninh’spersistent policy of limiting the scale of quarantine and lockdown to the smallest possible to minimise negative effects on people's life, encouragingthe locality to continue this spirit.

Accordingto Director of the Health Department of Quang Ninh Nguyen Trong Dien, thelocality has traced 81,698 people related to COVID-19 cases down to the F4 level and discovered 42infections.

Currently,the province has completed testing on 36,267 people while speeding up thetracing of people having high risk of infection, and improving its testingcapacity.

Asscheduled, on February 4 afternoon, all pandemic-hit areas in Quang Ninh will takesamples of local elderly people with underlying diseases, drivers working on their own or for private transport firms, supermarket workers, traders at wet markets, medical staff and in-patients in hospitals and staff at quarantine facilities for testing, he said.

Dien saidthat Quang Ninh is facing a number of difficulties, including those in information provision and a shortage of medical bio-products, chemicals andequipment. He asked for support from the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile,Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the People’sCouncil Nguyen Xuan Ky said that the province will accelerate tracing work and gathering medicaldeclarations of all local residents to reduce risks.

Quang Ninhaims to complete the collection of samples for COVID-19 testing in the next two days, saidKy.

He declaredthat the situation is under good control, adding that Quang Ninh aims to not only contain the COVID-19 outbreak but also ensure production and business at the sametime, especially during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet).

At themeeting, Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong agreed with Quang Ninh onexpanding groups subjected for testing, and pledged to provide support for the province in the form of medical machines./.