HCMC – HCMC has ended the first stage of the mass Covid-19 testing drive in extremely-high-risk and high-risk areas, detecting some 64,300 positive Covid-19 cases from August 23 to 29.
The positive cases accounted for 3.8% of over 1.6 million samples collected for testing during the seven-day period, Pham Duc Hai, deputy head of the city’s anti-virus steering committee, told a press briefing on August 29. He did not say whether any of the cases detected during the mass testing period have been confirmed and included in the daily caseload announced by the Ministry of Health.
As of August 27, most of the city’s districts had already taken samples from residents in extremely-high-risk and high-risk zones for testing, Hai said, adding that however, the testing in very-low-risk, low-risk and medium-risk areas has yet to be completed.
As such, the municipal government has urged the districts to speed up Covid testing to detect and isolate carriers of coronavirus as soon as possible.
Besides, the districts were asked to complete the second stage of mass testing in extremely-high-risk and high-risk areas before September 2 and encourage residents to take samples themselves.
Also, Hai said that the city would send an anti-virus group of 754 people to 21 districts and Thu Duc City to join the fight against Covid-19, with two of them set to support each ward or commune. However, each ward or commune in the districts of 12, Binh Tan, Go Vap, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh will have three.
As of August 29, hospitals citywide were treating some 40,300 Covid-19 patients. Over 2,240 patients were discharged from the hospitals on August 28, taking the city’s total recoveries to 104,844.
Over 5.8 million adults in the city have been vaccinated against Covid-19, the local media reported.
HCMC’s caseload in the ongoing fourth wave of Covid-19, which began in late April, has reached 209,921.
