Capital conducts large-scale RT-PCR campaign

Illustration photo

This is part of Plan 184/KH-UBND, dated August 10, 2021, signed by Chairman of the Ha Noi municipal People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh. 

Under the plan, those subject to the test  are categorized into three different groups namely “red”, “orange” and “green”.

The “red” group includes people in high and extremely high areas of Covid transmission, those operating in supply chains, markets,medical workers, frontline forces, workers, delivery men, and apartment security guards in high-risk areas. 

The “orange” group comprises people at factories, production sites, offices, markets, supermarkets, hospitals, medical clinics in vulnerable areas.   

The “green” group covers people who modestly move in disease-free zones. 

Especially, the local medical sector will collect swabs of about 1.3 million people in the “red” group from August 9-17.

Meanwhile, about 2 million other RT-PCR tests are ongoing for people in both the “orange” and “green” groups. 

Particularly, in the “green” group, a member of each family who frequently visits vulnerable areas like markets and hospitals is subjected to the testing campaign.  

Meanwhile, people who report sign of infections including cough and fever via the medical registration system will be tested. 

Earlier, Ha Noi’s testing capacity has been upgraded with over 200,000 samples per day.  

This is the unprecedentedly largest testing campaign which Ha Noi has even conducted besides the ongoing vaccination campaign in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, said Ms. Tran Thi Nhi Ha, Director of the Ha Noi Health Department. 

Over the past days, the city has reported new cases of 60 to 80 on average with unlinked cases. 

The local authorities re-imposed another 15-day social distancing rules which will end on August 23.

The city recorded 1,915 new cases including 1,111 locally-transmitted ones since the fourth wave of infections beginning in late April, with the bulk discovered since early July. 

Earlier, the Department of Health revealed a plan to conduct a large-scale Realtime PCR testing campaign for about 300,000 residents in high-risk areas and those at high risk of infection in 30 districts and townships from August 10 to August 17.

The target groups include freight forwarders, traders at markets and supermarkets, public sanitation workers, taxi drivers, workers at industrial parks, as well as residents in high-risk areas where many patients have been confirmed, residents in crowded areas or areas with high traffic volume./.​

By Khanh Phuong