The move is made after the Government issued Resolution No.105/NQ-CP which allows enterprises to conduct COVID-19 testing for their employees, but the Health Ministry has yet to issue specific guidelines for this. 

Recently, several media outlets said firms have met difficulties in production recovery due to the serious shortage of workers and different COVID-19 testing requirements in localities.

Health Ministry recommends not periodically testing fully vaccinated people

The Ministry of Health has recommended not conducting periodical COVID-19 testing for fully vaccinated people who received the last shot at least 14 days but not more than 12 months, or former patients who have recovered from the disease within six months.

The recommendation was made as part of an urgent document sent by the ministry to governmental agencies, sectors, provinces and centrally run cities regarding COVID-19 testing direction for business and production facilities.

To strengthen pandemic prevention and control and facilitate business and production activities in the new context, the ministry proposed conducting screening testing for all cases of employees with suspected COVID-19 symptoms such as cough, fever, and shortness of breath, and those with related epidemiological factors.

For enterprises in high-risk provinces and cities, real time RT–PCR or rapid antigen tests are required every week for 20 percent of high-risk workers and all direct service providers to the facilities.

For those in risky localities, real time RT–PCR or rapid antigen tests are required at least twice a week for at least 5-10 percent of high-risk workers and all direct service providers to the facilities.

Testing results should be immediately reported to the local medical stations.

Production and business establishments are solely responsible for the quality of antigen tests, testing procedures, and results, stressed the ministry./.

Source: VNA