Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam suggested Bac Ninh consider quarantining F1 individuals (who come in close contact with COVID-19 patients) at their places of residence if its centralized quarantine sites are overloaded. 

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam chairs an online meeting between the National
Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and leaders of Bac Ninh
and Bac Giang provinces, Ha Noi, May 20, 2021. Photo: VGP

The suggestion was made on Thursday at the online meeting between the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and leaders of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces – the current two biggest COVID-19 hotspots in Viet Nam.

Local authorities of the two provinces should also mull over application of mandatory health declaration for all residents, Vu said.

Deputy PM Vu urged the two northern localities to focus on preventing spread of COVID-19 at industrial parks and strictly fine those who fail to comply with regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control.

The two localities were also tasked to coordinate in developing plans to ensure continuous production of multinational business giants like Samsung.

The number of daily new COVID-19 cases as of 00:22 pm on May 21

According to Le Anh Duong, Chairman of the Bac Giang provincial People’s Committee, the locality has temporarily suspended four industrial parks and imposed social distancing in four districts and capital city of Bac Giang.

Bac Giang has scaled up pool testing capacity to 100,000 samples per day and designated eight hospitals for COVID-19 treatment with 1,280 beds.

It planned to put into operation of another 300-bed field hospital on May 21, Le said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Huong Giang, Chairwoman of the Bac Ninh provincial People’s Committee said all of the eight district-level administrative units have reported community-transmitted cases, including six cases detected at Samsung and Cannon companies.

Nguyen said the locality needs to further expand pool testing capacity as there are nearly 500,000 workers working at industrial parks.

As of 00:22 pm on May 21, Viet Nam confirmed 4,883 COVID-19 cases, including 1,835 local infections recorded in 30 cities and provinces, in which Bac Giang and Bac Ninh are hit hardest with 728 and 378 cases respectively./.