HN permits home quarantine for COVID contacts
VGP – The Ha Noi local authorities are expanding home quarantine for F0 and F1 cases to 30 districts and townships, according to a dispatch of Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh on measures in response to a continued rise in COVID-19 cases in the city.
It is expected that the number of new cases will continue to rise rapidly, particularly as travel traditionally increases in the last months of the year.
The city confirmed 1,751 new cases found between November 25 and December 1, an average of 291 cases a day.
The Department of Health was tasked to guide districts and townships in strengthening measures that control the pandemic while increasing the speed of vaccine distribution.
The Department of Health will coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications to deploy software to manage the treatment of F0 cases at medical facilities and at home across the city.
Localities have coordinated with the Department of Health to set up facilities to provide treatment for mild and asymptomatic F0 cases following the mobile medical station model, ensuring each ward, communes and township have an average of at least 150 beds.
The dispatch also requests that more information be publically available, such as via the portals of districts and townships, to inform residents about the plan of quarantine and treatment for F0, F1 at home.
The Department of Tourism has been asked to cooperate with the Department of Health to review accommodation facilities that meet the requirements for F1 isolation.
The city assigned districts and townships to coordinate with the Capital Command and the Department of Transport to transport F1 cases to the city's concentrated isolation facilities within 12 hours of a positive test result.
* High school reopening plan adjusted
Earlier, the education department on December 5 decided to change the previously announced school reopening plan as many COVID-19 community transmissions have been detected in the last few days, making it risky for students.
From Monday, only twelfth graders will return to school, with 50 percent having in-person classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and the rest having them on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. High schools, vocational and continuing education facilities in low or medium coronavirus risk areas, are allowed to reopen.
Grade nine students in 18 suburban districts will continue to have in-person lessons, and students in all other grades will keep having online classes. Preschool children will also stay at home.
Many high schools in the capital city had already postponed their reopening amid the pandemic’s resurgence.
Under the previous decision by the Hanoi People's Committee, high schools were to reopen for on-site classes from Dec. 6, except for those located in Pho Hue, Kham Thien, and Trung Phung wards./.
By Kim Loan
