Ho Chi Minh City authorities have asked medical facilities to conduct COVID-19 tests on all people having symptoms of a cough, fever, and difficulty breathing to detect positive cases early and prevent the risk of transmission.

The municipal Department of Health announced the decision in a document on Friday.

Accordingly, people found having signs of a cough, a fever, trouble breathing, or respiratory inflammation and those visiting medical establishments for such symptoms must all be tested for COVID-19.

Workers at those facilities are also subject to testing every three days.

More medical workers will be mobilized to give assistance in sample collection.

In addition, the health department requested medical facilities to continue instructing people in conducting rapid antigen tests on their own, under the assistance of medical staff or trained volunteers in a safe manner.

The municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control previously issued a document on beefing up mass testing in the city early this week.

Accordingly, authorities in districts and Thu Duc City were requested to report on their local testing results and the classification of areas by risk levels, as well as continue with the testing drive in very high- and high-risk zones until September 15.

The national system of COVID-19 case management recorded 7,539 new cases in Ho Chi Minh City between 5:00 pm Thursday and 5:00 pm Friday.

The southern metropolis has documented a total of 286,242 local infections since a new bout hit Vietnam on April 27.

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