Risk of Covid-19 community spread, social distancing practice needed

Vietnam is entering the third phase of the Covid-19 fight, as risks of community spreading are high; therefore, social distancing practice is needed to slow the spread.
Three men returning from Lao are transported to quarantine areas (Photo: SGGP)
Three men returning from Lao are transported to quarantine areas (Photo: SGGP)
According to the National Steering Board of Covid-19 Prevention and Control on April 2, after Vietnam reported the 100th Covid-19 case on March 22, 71 additional cases were recorded seven days later till today, a total of Covid-19 case was 233.
Tran Dac Phu, a senior advisor at the Public Health Emergency Operations Center under the Ministry of Health, thanks to Vietnam’s good strategies at the beginning, the spread of the disease is not as serious as other countries.
For other coronavirus hotspots in the country, authorities have been able to track down the sources and monitor all close contacts. But in clusters where the source of transmission can’t be identified the risk of spreading the virus further in the community is very high
However, he pointed out that Vietnam is entering the third phase of the Covid-19 fight, as risks of community spreading are high; social distancing can guarantee the success of the first phase. f people are less mobile and interact with each other less, the virus has fewer opportunities to spread.
Lately, health authority have been unable to determine the source of the Covid-19 outbreaks at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi or Buddha bar in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2 making the risk of community transmission high. Once community transmission is high, it will put pressure on health system.
After Vietnamese Prime Minister issued decrees No. 15 and 16 on Covid-19 preventive measures including social distancing, some localities placed barriers to limit travelling from localities to localities on April 1.
Chairman of the Office of the Government Mai Tien Dung said the move did not accord with the Prime Minister’s direction that just discouraged people to go out.
Regarding police force set up 30 checkpoints in gates into Hanoi to measure people’s temperature and investigate people’s health status, Mr. Dung said it was good way to screen people’s health condition and curb cross-infection.
Over one million people have caught the novel coronavirus, with almost 53,000 killed globally, statistics showed on Friday. About 212,000 patients have recovered. Six new Covid-19 cases were announced Friday morning bringing Vietnam's tally to 233.

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