Vinh Phuc prepares for field hospital against COVID-19

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The northern province of Vinh Phuc, a fresh coronavirus hotspot announced that, eight out of 2,845 people under medical surveillance first tested positive for the virus. Earlier the Ministry of Health confirmed 14 infections in Vinh Phuc which were all related to the Chinese infection in the locality.

Due to this urgen situation, officials proposed conducting a massive testing campaign to early detect and quarantine suspect cases, and avoid cross transmission at quarantine facilities, while providing additional professional personnel and equipment for localities.

Photo for illustration. Source: Vinh Phuc newspaper.

Le Duy Thanh, chairman of the provincial government, requested the medical sector to raise the testing capacity by five times to ensure all F1 cases (referring to those in close contact with COVID-19 patients) must be tested.

District-level concentrated quarantine facilities must be expanded by three times while preparations for a field hospital to be set up must be accelerated to deal with the worse-case scenario, said Thanh.

Vinh Phuc is the country’s biggest coronavirus hotspot at present. The virus recurred after a group of five Chinese experts visited Sunny bar in Vinh Phuc-run Vinh Yen city. One of the experts was diagnosed with the virus upon his return to China.

Notably, three of the confirmed cases were infected with the Indian variant B.1.617.2, according to the results of genome sequencing conducted by Vietnamese scientists.

The Chinese experts were said to have boarded flight VN160 from Da Nang to Hanoi on April 29 together with Indian experts. The Ministry of Health issued an urgent notice to look for passengers flying the same flight. So far some have been confirmed as coronavirus infections.