As 80 percent of the infected cases in the two localities were asymptomatic, testing was the key to detect and separate infections from the community.

The second decision was to place 20 southern cities and provinces under social distancing rules.

The third decision was to send nearly 300,000 turns of military soldiers and public security cadets to help Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi, and other COVID-19 hotspots fight the pandemic.

The fourth decision was to set up mobile medical stations and send military doctors and physicians to southern provinces and cities.

The fifth decision was the introduction of vaccine strategy.

Nguyen said the pandemic may last long, thus the ministry is now developing provisional guidelines for the country to adapt safely and flexibly to the pandemic while restoring economic activities.

More than five months into the fourth COVID-19 wave tied to the Delta variant, Viet Nam confirmed 803,993 locally transmitted cases recorded in 62 cities and provinces out of the total caseload of 808,578./