Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Friday called on every citizen using smart phones to install Bluezone to help front-liners contain the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Bluezone helps identify and alert people who have interacted with COVID-19 patients.

Bluezone is a domestically developed contact-tracing mobile app to identify and alert people who have interacted with COVID-19 patients.

As of August 11, as many as 15.7 million people downloaded Bluezone, in which Da Nang City, the nation’s current biggest COVID-19 hotspot, took the lead  with 34.13% of smart phone users installing the app, followed by Ha Noi 23.83%, Quang Ninh Province 22.61%, Ho Chi Minh City 22.05% and Bac Ninh Province 17.84%. 

The Government chief’s call came at a time when the country has entered the third phase of Covid-19 fight since the first community-transmitted case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Da Nang on July 25.

As of 6:10 pm on Friday, Viet Nam confirmed 929 Covid-19 patients, including 461 cases linked to the Covid-19 outbreak in Da Nang. 

Of these new cases, 21 people have died of the virus and other severe diseases, said the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control.

PM Phuc warned that the risk of Covid-19 transmission remains high over the next ten days, thus localities must mobilize resources and strengthen capacity to effectively contain the pandemic./.