The central coastal city of Da Nang has established seven checkpoints at entrances to the city in order to control the body temperature of all arrivals, with traffic police and health workers being positioned at each of the checkpoints.

Six of the checkpoints have been placed in the districts of Ngu Hanh Son, Lien Chieu, and Hoa Vang, whilst an additional checkpoint is situated at Da Nang Railway Station. Each of the locations will have traffic police and medical staff working around the clock in a bid to check the body temperature of all passengers entering the city.

Vo Thu Tung, Chief of Office of Da Nang City Department of Health, stated that the establishment of these checkpoints is aimed at monitoring the body temperature of all foreigners and overseas Vietnamese who enter the city in order to early detect and isolate possible suspected cases. 

Tung added that the purpose of introducing the checkpoints is to tighten control over the travel history of foreigners who enter Da Nang via train or main roads into the city. 

It is the responsibility of health workers to measure each person’s body temperature and notify all people with a fever to swiftly contact the emergency services so they can be transferred to local health facilities for testing, he said.

To date Vietnam has detected 57 patients of COVID-19 infection, of whom 16 had completely recovered and been discharged from hospital. Of the 41 newly-infected cases, three were confirmed in Da Nang.