HCMC – The HCMC Department of Health has recommended that Thu Duc City and all districts in the city should quarantine all direct contacts of conformed Covid-19 cases at their residences.
At a conference to review the home quarantine of direct contacts of Covid-19 cases in the city on August 3, Doctor Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy director of the municipal Department of Health, said the solution was urgent amid the current situation, requiring the cooperation of all competent agencies and quarantined people, the local media reported.
The department proposed that Thu Duc City and districts make arrangements for people to monitor those quarantined. Direct contacts of Covid cases violating the anti-virus regulations during the self-isolation at home will be sent to centralized quarantine centers or face sanctions.
The city has piloted home quarantine for asymptomatic Covid cases and direct contacts of Covid cases for half a month.
In the current wave of infections, which began on April 27, the city has repeatedly changed the quarantine regulations. Earlier, direct contacts of Covid cases were put under centralized quarantine for 14 and then 21 days and a further home quarantine for seven more days.
In early July, the city’s Covid cases reached 7,000 and directs contacts of Covid cases exceeded 14,000, causing an overload at concentrated quarantine facilities. The municipal Department of Health started piloting home quarantine for direct contacts of Covid cases in eight high-risk districts for 28 days.
The city also put direct contacts of Covid cases at centralized quarantine centers for 14 days and at home for 14 more days in line with the Ministry of Health’s directions.
Since July 17, the city has piloted home quarantine for direct contacts of Covid patients. The military and police forces were responsible for ensuring security and social order and monitoring quarantined people, while healthcare workers were in charge of instructing quarantined people to make health declarations on the Vietnam Health Declaration app, taking their samples for Covid testing, instructing them to collect waste properly and informing the healthcare centers if direct contacts of Covid cases test positive for the coronavirus.
As of August 3, HCMC had sent nearly 42,700 people into mandatory quarantine, including over 5,900 people at centralized quarantine centers and some 36,700 others at home.
