Vietnam has plans to test all 9 million people in Ho Chi Minh, the country’s largest city for COVID-19.
Newspaper Vietnam News has said 100,000 tests per day will be carried out for Ho Chi Minh residents, focusing on high-risk groups.
This is in response to the rapidly growing rates of cases in Vietnam. Since late April, the country reported rate of COVID-19 infections has almost doubled.
Some recent cases indicate that patients have been infected by a hybrid virus variant found in India and the UK.
This hybrid is reported to spread quicker than other variants and is speculated to be responsible for Vietnam‘s surge.
Currently, residents of Ho Chi Minh are only allowed to leave home for necessary activities.
Public gatherings of more than ten people have been banned for two weeks. Last Thursday, the city shut down non-essential businesses when cases started to increase.
At least 145 cases emerged from the Revival Ekklesia Mission, a Protestant church.
The newspaper said church followers gathered in a small space for singing and chanting without proper distancing and mask-wearing.
Ho Chi Minh City police said the mission has 48 registered members.
The husband and wife accused of leading and organising activities at the church were not identified or arrested. However, Vietnam has since banned all religious events nationwide.
Ho Chi Minh city authorities are planning to test its entire population of nearly nine million people, with testing capacities up to 100,000 samples a day. This comes as a response to the growing Covid outbreak in Vietnam. (MK) #Covid #Vietnam #HoChiMinh #Pandemic #CovidTesting
— Madhuryavalli (@Madhuryavalli1) June 1, 2021
