The Ha Noi Department of Health will conduct a large-scale testing campaign for about 300,000 local residents in high-risk areas from August 10-17 in a bid to early detect COVID-19 infections.  

Deputy Director of the municipal Center of Disease Control (CDC) Khong Minh Tuan reported that the health sector is determined to optimize the social distancing period (which will end on August 23) to separate infected cases from the community. 

The targets groups include freight forwarders, traders at wet markets and supermarkets, public sanitation workers, taxi drivers, and workers at industrial parks. 

The Department planned to mobilize nearly 1,000 students of the Ha Noi Medical College (of whom 300 partook in disease prevention in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, the previous Covid hotspots) to collect swabs.

The move was made as the pandemic situation remains complicated in the city with many new cases having been recorded in the community

Over the past three weeks, 634 cases out of 1,369 local infections (46 percent) have been detected in the community including Tho Am hamlet cluster in Thanh Tri district, Hoa Voi cluster in Quoc Oai district, as well as Phung market cluster in Thach That district.  

At least 237  residents  reported to the health department over the past two days that they have experienced coughing and fever and waited for SARS-CoV-2 tests.

As of early August 9, Ha Noi documented 1,792 cases of SARS-CoV-2 since the fourth wave of COVID-19 erupted on April 27. Of these, 1,075 cases were unlinked with the previous cases and 717 others were detected in quarantine camps or lockdown areas./.