Images of members of a medical task force from coastal Hai Phong City have gone viral, featuring their heads shaven before a mission trip to Da Nang City, Vietnam’s current COVID-19 epicenter. 

On August 8, stories of male practitioners fully shaving their heads before entering Da Nang emerged on social media with photos included.

The practitioners were said to be part of a COVID-19 medical task force mobilized from Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam.

In a conversation with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, the leader of the discussed task force, confirmed this story to be true.

These images were taken right before the team headed to Da Nang, where they would help suppress the COVID-19 outbreak.

Male practitioners in the team have fully shaved their heads bald, while their female counterparts chose to shorten their long hair. 

This is meant to help reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 during their long work shift with patients, Dung elaborated. 

For his part, Dung did not don a hair shave as his public relations duty requires a look that is “easier on the eyes.”

In the comments section of the story, Facebook users have taken the opportunity to express gratitude to medical responders working at the front line against the pandemic as well as their support for the practitioners’ new looks.

Facebook account Manh Nga affirmed: “Doesn’t matter, it still looks nice, as long as the medical practitioners stay healthy to battle the pandemic in their best ability.”

Responding to the volume of support online, Dung reaffirmed that the haircuts are of no particular struggle to the task force, but are rather seen as part of their job. 

The team of 21 practitioners from Hai Phong have arrived at the makeshift infirmary located in the Medical Center of Hoa Vang District in Da Nang and commenced treating COVID-19 patients.

The institution is currently housing 156 COVID-19 patients, 20 of which are receiving dialysis treatment. 

The number of domestic infections linked to Da Nang has hit 389 since July 25, when the tourist city logged Vietnam's first locally-transmitted case after the country had gone 99 days without any documented community transmission. 

Vietnam has documented 847 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday morning, of which 318 were imported and 399 have beaten the virus.

The country’s health ministry has sent a task force of medical experts and more than 1,000 health workers to Da Nang, while Cuba has also dispatched a medical team to Vietnam.

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