Vietnamese authorities plan to press ahead with organizing the annual national high school exam this month despite the ongoing novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, while disease-stricken localities may be permitted to postpone the event.

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control convened a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on Sunday.

Regarding this year’s national high school exam, scheduled to take place from August 8 to 10, members of the committee asked the Ministry of Education and Training to submit a detailed plan on organizing the exam and ensuring the safety of students.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do said that the agency had directed local authorities to ensure epidemiological hygiene at exam locations.

None of the country’s test takers are COVID-19 patients (F0 cases), while several are individuals who have had contact with COVID-19 patients (F1 and F2) and are mainly in the central city of Da Nang, Vietnam’s outbreak epicenter at the moment.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, this year’s exam must be organized as planned, according to the official.

Such localities as Da Nang and Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam, where the epidemic is serious and social distancing measures are applied, will be allowed to postpone the exam to a later date, Deputy Minister Do added.

Twelfth-grade students in Vietnam are required to participate in the annual national high school exam after finishing their study.

Results of the test are needed for graduation and serve to help universities and colleges enroll undergraduates.

Over 900,000 students are due to take part in the nationwide exam this year.

The exam usually takes place in July but has been delayed this year due to prolonged school breaks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnam’s COVID-19 tally sat at 652, with 374 having recovered and eight fatalities as of Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 205 locally-transmitted cases have been traced to Da Nang since July 25, after 99 days of no documented community transmission of the virus in the Southeast Asian nation.

The 205 cases are made up of 142 in Da Nang, 44 in Quang Nam, three in Quang Ngai Province, three in Dak Lak Province, one in Dong Nai Province, eight in Ho Chi Minh City, two in Hanoi, one in Ha Nam Province, and one in Thai Binh Province.

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