Authorities in Hanoi’s Dong Anh District have quarantined over 300 individuals inside Z153, a factory under the auspices of the Ministry of National Defense, and sent 57 others to centralized quanrantine after the detection of patient No. 1,695, a worker at the facility who tested positive for the COVID-19 pathogen on Saturday.

All direct contacts of patient No. 1,695 had their samples taken for testing and they were scheduled to receive their test results on Saturday night, Dong Anh District officials said during a telemeeting with the municipal Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control the same day.

The district has set up control posts and restricted all movement to and from the Z153 factory.

Local authorities also collected samples of all workers in the factory, and are asking for permission from the city’s Department of Health to expand testing to over 2,000 residents in the surrounding neighborhood.

Commenting on the current developments of COVID-19, leaders of the Hanoi Department of Health as well as the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (Hanoi CDC) warned of high risks of community spread, as several direct and indirect contacts of an infected person have in turn become the source of transmission for others.

“Without a prompt, comprehensive, and well-thought-out response, as well as timely testing of direct and indirect contacts, Hanoi will see an escalation of COVID-19 spread,” said Truong Quang Viet, deputy director of Hanoi CDC.

“The pressure on the Ministry of Health is immense at the moment.

"Hanoi CDC is trying all options to boost testing capacity and will meet the demand."

Concluding the meeting, Chu Xuan Dung, deputy chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, ordered mass testing for all people coming to Hanoi from Hai Duong Province ’s Chi Linh City since January 1, as well as Quang Ninh Province’s Van Don Airport since January 5.

Those are the locales considered the epicenters of a new outbreak that struck Vietnam on Thursday.

Vietnam has confirmed 1,781 coronavirus cases, including 914 domestic infections, as of Sunday morning, with 1,456 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The capital city has recorded 11 local coronavirus infections since the start of the new wave.

The Southeast Asian country is mulling over more stringent COVID-19 prevention measures, including a 21-day quarantine period for high-risk individuals, after fresh outbreak sites have been detected in eight provinces and cities, including Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hoa Binh, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, and Gia Lai. 

The country had spent nearly two months detecting no local transmission before the new clusters were uncovered.

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