After 47 days since the Covid-19 outbreak was recorded at Ehome 4 apartment of Vinh Phu ward in Thuan An city of Binh Duong, there have been new positive cases in the Chinese community of An Phu ward in Thuan An city. However, by the experience in disease prevention and control since the first outbreak, branches and localities have coordinated while drastically directing and making use of every minute to track the cases of F1, F2, and F3 exposure to the infection so as to localize and block the risk of epidemic spread in the community.
Being experienced with Covid-19 prevention and control, Binh Duong province has proactively control the situation of positive cases of Chinese in the community. Photo: Minh Duy
Rapid response and speedy tracking
Upon receiving information from Center for Disease Control of Ho Chi Minh City regarding a positive case of SARS-CoV-2 in An Phu ward of Thuan An city, the provincial health sector conducted an epidemiological investigation and verified the information. The positive case of SARS-CoV-2 was a Chinese born in 1977, residing at 259-260, OASIS 2 Residential Area, An Phu Ward, Thuan An City. Information disclosed by the patient's wife showed that the patient entered Vietnam from around March 2020 and by January 2021, he went to Moc Bai border gate in Tay Ninh. On March 22, the patient moved from Moc Bai border gate of Tay Ninh to home at 259-260 OASIS 2 residential area, An Phu ward, Thuan An city. In 3 days of March 23, 24, and 25, the patient went to his company to work at C63-64, Viet Sing residential area, An Phu ward, Thuan An city. At 8:30 a.m. on March 25, the patient took the Grab taxi number 60A-736.63 and went to the Ho Chi Minh City Disease Control Center to test for SARS-CoV2 before going to Cambodia but the result was positive.
After receiving information about Covid-19 infection in the community, at night, Nguyen Loc Ha, Standing Member of Binh Duong provincial Party Committee cum Deputy Chairman of Binh Duong provincial People's Committee along with leaders of the health sector went directly to the ward of An Phu to know the situation and promptly extend measures to prevent and control Covid-19 epidemic. A few hours later, a list of F1 and F2 contacts was established. For the F1 cases, the sector performed the centralized quarantine, sampling, and home isolation of the F2 cases; the quarantine has been closely monitored the isolation. The sector also conducted disinfection spraying for the corporate area, the residence of the case, and the temporary isolation of the company area where the patient worked.
Nguyen Thanh Tam, Chairman of People's Committee of Thuan An city, said that at night, the city functional forces sealed the area around the apartment where the infected patient lived with about 10 households. He also asked 10 units of wards and communes in the area to immediately operate effectively 666 Covid-19 Community Groups in 56 areas to maximize human resources to trace, review and screen the contact and take samples for testing as soon as the list is available. At the same time, localities must propagate so that people can join in and coordinate with relevant authorities in tracking down and immediately launch epidemic prevention and control scenarios with more drastic measures.
In the morning of March 26, the health sector continued to trace related cases of F1, F2, and F3 and closely monitor isolated cases as infection prevention and control activities in isolated areas are strictly carried out. Investigation has been made to prepare a list of F3 cases and trace all contacts, and do a large-scale screening test in the patient areas in or through. Huynh Thanh Ha, Deputy Director of Department of Health, said that, along with accelerating the traceability of F1 cases related to the patients, Thuan An city should urgently trace F1 cases with timetable of 14 days, especially in the last 5 days. Along with the traceability work, it is expected that Thuan An city will take about 300 pooled samples to quickly test for Covid-19 on a large scale against about 1,500 people.
Pointing out right outbreak for processing of infected cases
Along with traceability and epidemiological investigations, testing is one of the important stages, helping to detect infection early and promptly implement effective measures for preventing and controlling Covid-19. In the early morning of March 26, Dr. Nguyen Hong Chuong, Director of Department of Health, said that 8 F1 cases of Covid-19 positive Chinese have been tested negative for the first time with Covid-19 including his wife, 2 daughters, 1 Grab taxi driver and 4 close contact employees at the company. Concerning the migration schedule of this positive case, Dr. Nguyen Hong Chuong added: “The Chinese Covid-19 case schedule is simple, but most of all, Binh Duong responded quickly and always was ready for the disease out-breaking, speedy tracing of relevant cases to promptly isolate and take samples for testing. Although Covid-19 is a foreigner with different language, through experience in epidemiological investigation, experience in epidemic prevention and control in Ehome 4 apartment building in particular and 6 cases of Covid-19 in the community in the province recently in general, the health sector has taken control of the situation.”
Currently, Binh Duong is going through the second epidemic and has deeply overcome the limitations that existed in the first phase, which is the confusion in the direction and implementation when handling the case. Mr. Nguyen Loc Ha said, in order to effectively trace F1, F2, and F3 cases and minimize the omission of contacting cases, Binh Duong advocates to encourage and share with positive cases in combination with professional operations. Investigation and tracking down have been practiced family members and relatives so that the positive patient is comfortable, trusted and gradually remember all situations of close contact (F1). “In the last 15 days, it is difficult for anyone to remember all the travel schedule to report, so Binh Duong advocates speedy tracing but continues to work for many days after Covid-19 patient is hospitalized. However, the most important thing is that Binh Duong reacted as quickly as possible without wasting time and immediately stepped in when there was information to control the situation by blocking the risk of spreading epidemic in the community," said Nguyen Loc Ha.
Reported by Kim Ha – Translated by Vi Bao
