Hanoi to conduct COVID-19 testing for 300,000 residents in high-risk areas

Taking samples for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The Department of Health of Hanoi will conduct a large-scale testing campaign for about 300,000 residents in high-risk areas and those with a high risk of infection from August 10-17.

The municipal health sector is determined to optimise the social distancing period, which will end on August 23, to detect infected cases soon.

The target groups include freight forwarders, traders at markets and supermarkets, public sanitation workers, taxi drivers, and workers at industrial parks.

The Department planned to mobilise nearly 1,000 students of the Hanoi Medical College, of whom 300 partook in disease prevention in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces - the previous pandemic hotspots, to collect samples.

The move was made as the pandemic situation remains complicated in the city with many new cases having been recorded in the community

Over the past three weeks, 634 cases out of 1,369 local infections have been detected in the community including Tho Am hamlet cluster in Thanh Tri district, Hoa Voi cluster in Quoc Oai district, as well as Phung market cluster in Thach That district. 

As of early August 9, the capital city documented 1,792 infections since the fourth wave of COVID-19 erupted on April 27. Of these, 1,075 cases were detected in the community and 717 others in quarantine sites or locked-down areas./. 

VNA