HCMCity (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Health hastold people who have returned to the city from other provinces andcities in the past 14 days to complete ‘honest’ health declarations amidthe unpredictable COVID-19 situation across the country.

Employeesare expected to complete health declarations at their workplace ifthey travelled to other provinces and cities in the past two weeks.

Peoplereturning from localities considered hotspots as announced by the HCM CityCentre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must notify localauthorities and health units for guidance on COVID-19 surveillance and testing.

Returneesfrom other provinces and cities can complete health declarations onthe Ministry of Health’s website tokhaiyte.vn.

District authoritiesand newly established Thu Duc city, including the COVID-19 communitytaskforce, will supervise the health declaration activities.

Asof February 17, the city’s CDC began screening people returning fromhotspots, who will be put in centralised quarantine for 14 days and testedfor COVID-19 four times.

Accordingto the CDC, the city is continuing to conduct extensive screening in thecommunity, especially at public transport areas, to assess the risk of disease.

AtTan Son Nhat International Airport, 10-20 percent of arrivals will be randomlysampled for testing. At Saigon Railway Station, 100 samples of passengers willbe tested a day. 

Atthe bus station in District 12 and the old and new Mien Dong(Eastern) bus stations, 100 passengers will be tested a day.

TheCDC will adjust the number of samples needed for testing at different publictransport locations, depending on the COVID-19 situation.

Accordingto the CDC, tens of thousands of passengers are returning from provinces andcities nationwide after the holiday, posing a higher risk of infection.

Thefirst case detected at the airport was identified as ‘patient 1979’on February 5.

Thecity had recorded 36 COVID-19 cases as of February 17, including 10cargo loading staff at Tan Son Nhat airport and 26 cases who are familymembers of the loading staff. 

“Theinfection chain at Tan Son Nhat hotspot has basically beencontained,” according to the CDC.

TheCDC attributed the containment to the strategy of rapidtesting after the sources of infection had been zoned. “Thiswas the decisive factor that helped control the infection chain atthe airport hotspot,” it said.

FromFebruary 11 to 14, a total of 9,480 samples (of which 2,939 from medicalworkers) were collected for testing at wholesale markets, traditionalmarkets, bus stations, motels and areas around industrial zones, allof which tested negative for the virus.

Theoutbreak has basically been under control in most localities, other thanthe northern province of Hai Duong, the country’s main COVID-19 epicentre,said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam at a recent meeting withofficials. 

Socialdistancing measures began in the entire Hai Duong province on February 16 asthe epicentre has reported more than 500 locally transmitted cases since the outbreak beganin late January./.