Thousands of Hanoians have been tested for the novel coronavirus after new community transmissions surfaced in central Da Nang City. 

Da Nang returnees in Hanoi wait for their Covid-19 tests in a classroom at Thanh Cong Secondary School on the morning of July 31, 2020. According to Dr. Khong Minh Tuan, deputy director of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC), as of midday on July 31, around 21,732 city dwellers had been tested.

"Following city administration guidelines, those returning from Da Nang City and neighboring Quang Nam Province were urgently tested for Covid-19," said Dang Thi Hong, deputy chairperson of Thanh Cong Ward People's Committee.

Da Nang, a popular tourism destination that attracted thousands of tourists after the government eased social distancing, has now become the country’s Covid-19 hotspot after 99 days without a single case of local transmission.

As of Friday morning 93 people have been diagnosed with the disease since it resurfaced in the community on July 25, 79 of them in Da Nang.

A medic checks the body temperature of a woman ahead of testing.

Completed health declarations are madatory prior to Covid-19 screening.

Over 200 Da Nang returnees are tested on the morning of July 31, 2020. Hanoi will continue monitoring those returning from the central city.

Hanoi authorities decided to conduct mass testing from July 30 to August 1, after two Covid-19 cases were found in the city, a 23-year-old and 76-year-old, both men returning from Da Nang.

All blood samples are marked with the names of residents, with blood droplets added to rapid test kits for analysis.

Persons testing positive will have their throat swabs taken for real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing at Hanoi CDC. Among over 21,000 rapid tests conducted in Hanoi, two returned positive, though later RT-PCR results confirmed all negative.

Rapid test kits, produced in South Korea, provide results within 10 minutes.

It takes each person 25 minutes to fill out a health declaration form, provide a blood sample and receive their test results.

"I went to Da Nang with my family two weeks ago. When the news about local Covid-19 infection broke, I reported to local medical authorities," said Nguyen Thuc Binh (R), who rushed to get tested after Hanoi decided to screen all Da Nang returnees.

A 70-year-old Covid-19 patient with multiple comorbidities died on Friday, the first death of anyone who contracted the disease in Vietnam. The country now has 546 Covid-19 patients. Of these, 373 have recovered.