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Photo of a National University of Ho Chi Minh City dormitory that was used as a quarantine zone in 2020. |
The city government also allowed Ho Chi Minh City High Command to temporarily use a 300-hospital bed facility at the Can Gio Covid-19 Treatment Hospital as a quarantine center for those who enter Vietnam. However, the city asked the agency to speed up the repair of its own quarantine sites to put them into operation as soon as possible. Once these sites open, the agency will have to hand over the Can Gio Covid-19 Treatment Hospital and the Cu Chi field hospital to the HCM City Health Department to serve local patients and those who are at high risk of infection.
According to the HCM City Department of Health Director Nguyen Tan Binh, the city currently has two quarantine sites managed by the army, five municipal level quarantine sites, 23 district level quarantine centers, and 42 hotels being used as quarantine sites, with a total of 10,500 beds.
The local health agency and relevant bodies plan to turn nine facilities of the army and one building of the HCM City National University with a total of 19,520 beds into quarantine sites in case the virus spreads. In this case, the city’s quarantine zones are able to serve up to 30,000 people and treat 5,000 Covid-19 patients.
Over the past week, Ho Chi Minh City recorded six locally transmitted cases.
In the latest news, HCM City health authorities on May 27 morning detected 25 Covid-19 infections connected to a cluster involving a Christian sect in Ward 3, Go Vap District.
So far, 19 of the cases are identified as members of the Revival Ekklesia Mission. Two are direct contacts with family members of the church's members and three are people who work at the same building with a suspected case in Ward 10, Phu Nhuan District, and another case in District 12.
Further confirmation tests are being carried out.
A total of 27 people involved in the sect have been identified in seven districts throughout the city.
The cluster was found after three people with Covid-19-like symptoms went to have health examinations at Gia Dinh People’s Hospital on May 26, and within the night, 127 people were tested. Further tests are being conducted as more cases are found.
The source of infection is not yet known.
Around 3,800 people linking to religious mission cluster tested
Authority in District 12 collected samples of 3,800 people linking to a religious mission cluster in Go Vap District for testing on May 27.
The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control confirmed 44 more domestic coronavirus cases yesterday, all linking to the religious mission cluster that emerged a day earlier.
At noon, more than 30 doctors and nurses from the Preventive Medicine Center in District 12 and the Hospital of Traditional Medicine in the city took samples for testing for more than 1,100 officials, engineers, and employees at the QZSC 9 building and an annex building located in Quang Trung Software Park in Tan Chanh Hiep Ward.
By 4 PM, doctors and nurses had collected over 800 samples for testing.
A 25- year-old employee working on the 5th floor of the QZSC building said that everyone was informed about one case of Covid-19 infection relating to the religious mission. He and his colleagues in the building were worried but willing to cooperate with medical staff to take samples for testing.
At 5 PM on the same day, local medical workers handled test-and-trace samples from 924 residents of block A2 at Moscow Tower apartment in Tan Thoi Nhat Ward.
Dr. Vu Duc Dien, Head of Infection Division of the Preventive Medicine Center in District 12, said that from 9 AM, health staffs started taking samples for testing but some people couldn’t be present because they had to go to work early; therefore, collection of samples at block A2 lasted until 8 PM.
This morning, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control said that 10 more Covid-10 suspected cases were recorded. Of ten cases, eight suspected cases linked to the religious mission, raising the number of infections in this cluster to 44 while two cases detected during screening at Hoan My Hospital, without a clear source of infection. The two are husband and wife and the wife is 10 weeks pregnant.
The Ministry of Health this morning said that within the past 12 hours, the country had 40 more Covid-19 cases in the northern provinces of Bac Giang (30), Lang Son (8), Thai Binh (1), the Mekong Delta Province of Long An (1), taking the total cases to 6.356.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has ordered the temporary closure of hair salons and suspension of all religious events and ceremonies after a new cluster of 25 COVID-19 cases related to a Christian church in Go Vap district was found.
Religious establishments should not gather more than 10 people, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said at an online meeting of the city’s Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on May 27.
Street food stalls should only sell takeaway, he said.
He instructed the Department of Health to ensure social distancing in high-risk areas based on the scale of outbreaks, and said it should try to detect the source of transmission of the cases involving the Revival Ekklesia Mission.
Large-scale testing should be carried out in all areas with incidence of COVID, he said.
The HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases should immediately carry out gene sequencing of the samples from the 25 patients, he said.
Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen said since the spread has been rapid, local authorities should work with relevant agencies to stamp it out.
The public should be calm and pay attention to preventive measures, he said.
Nguyen Duy Tan, head of the religious affairs division at the city Department of Home Affairs, said the Revival Ekklesia Mission organises activities every Sunday.
According to the Department of Health, 67 people have been traced through contact tracing, all have been tested, and 23 have proved negative with the rest awaiting their results.
Nguyen Tri Dung, head of the city’s Centre for Diseases Control, warned that the virus could be present and spread in the community.
Phong instructed all apartment buildings and offices to tighten preventive measures and set up prevention and control teams.
Authorities in districts should strengthen fines on people not wearing masks, he added.
The city also found nine crew members on the vessel Ashico Victoria, which arrived from India on May 26, testing positive for COVID. The ship anchored outside Sai Gon Port.
Phong ordered the Centre for Diseases Control and other relevant agencies to keep the ship under surveillance. VNA
Ho Van
COVID-19 cluster connected to HCM City Christian sect grows to 25
HCM City health authorities on Thursday morning said they had detected 25 COVID-19 infections connected to the cluster involving a Christian sect in Ward 3, Go Vap District.
Tan Son Nhat airport stops receiving passengers from abroad
Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City has stopped receiving passengers entering the country, starting May 27, amid rising coronavirus infections in the southern largest city.
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