HCMC – During a meeting held to discuss the implications of Covid-19, Associate Professor Dr Tran Dac Phu, former director of the Agency of Preventive Medicine, stressed that the arrival of several groups of people could lead to new imported cases of the coronavirus in the country and suggested that Vietnam's authorities continue taking drastic steps to quarantine airline crew members, experts and students entering the country.

At the meeting, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long noted that Vietnam has contained the spread of Covid-19, but the pandemic is still spreading in several other countries. However, as Vietnam has repatriated Vietnamese citizens stranded abroad and allowed foreign experts and highly skilled workers to return for work, another coronavirus wave is likely to break out in the country. The late detection of even one imported case could lead to another Covid-19 outbreak in the community. In this regard, Long stressed that the authorities should closely monitor people entering Vietnam in the coming months. Representatives from the ministries of National Defense and Public Security also suggested stringent measures to monitor people entering the country. Several attendees recommended that the Ministry of National Defense receive and quarantine foreign students arriving in Vietnam. Concluding the discussion, the national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control asked localities to keep monitoring pilots and crew members serving international flights. They were also asked to closely monitor hotels that were used as centers to quarantine international flight crews, in line with prevailing regulations. The Health Ministry was asked to send a rapid reaction force to inspect these lodging facilities to address any violations.