Over the weekend, Hanoi carried out testing for thousands of city dwellers who had been to Da Nang in July.

During a meeting of Hanoi’s anti-Covid steering committee on August 1, officials discussed the progress of the capital’s massive undertaking to screen its residents for COVID-19, reports Tuoi Tre.

Nguyễn Khắc Hiền, director of the Hanoi Department of Health, said that as of 2pm on August 1, 72,275 people had self-reported as having been to Da Nang recently, an increase of 18,507 individuals compared to July 31. Of the list, Hanoi labs have conducted rapid tests on 49,829 samples.

Hiền said that 11 samples tested positive following the rapid tests, though after carrying out further PCR tests, 10 turned out to be negative, while one was being tested at the time of the meeting.

Apart from the rapid tests, Hanoi also did PCR testing on 481 people, 366 of whom were exhibiting respiratory symptoms. Of these, Hiền said that 424 have tested negative, while 57 others were awaiting results.

So far, during the third wave of coronavirus infection, Hanoi has discovered two COVID-19 cases, both of whom visited Da Nang in July. According to Hiền, health officials have identified 127 people who had direct contact (F1) with the patients, but fortunately their tests were negative.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung commented that based on the sheer number of self-reported people, it shows that Hanoians have a good sense of social responsibility in curbing the spread of the virus.

At the meeting, officials also discussed the recent repatriation flight from Equatorial Guinea, in central Africa, to bring 219 Vietnamese workers back home. Previous reports estimated that more than 100 workers might have the coronavirus, but according to Hiền, testing showed that the actual number of infections is just 20, which will be counted under Hanoi’s total COVID-19 tally.

[Photo via Bao Dan Sinh]