HCMC – Local residents should take numerous precautions against Covid-19 as the number of infections will rise further and the outbreak is expected to reach its peak in the next 10 days, said Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son.

Accordingly, contact tracing, providing medical treatment to critically-ill Covid-19 patients and issuing warnings against the disease to local residents, especially those living in the Danang coronavirus hotspot, must be done in a serious manner, he stressed. Son added that the current outbreak in the central coastal city of Danang is much more complicated than the previous one that hit Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi months ago. In Danang, the outbreak has spread to three major hospitals with many patients, caregivers, visitors and health care workers being infected. Among them, Covid-19 patients with underlying health conditions are at a high risk of death. Nine Covid-19 patients who died had been receiving treatment at the hospitals for their underlying health conditions, Son noted. Aside from detecting people who came into close contact with the Covid-19 patients at the hospitals, there were a certain number of Covid-19 cases with no link to these hospitals, making contact tracing efforts more difficult, the health official said. The health sector’s top priority now is not looking for patient zero in Danang but ramping up antibody tests for the early detection of cases of community transmission and tracking down those who interacted with coronavirus patients, he added. Danang City has increased its testing capacity to 8,000-10,000 samples per day and the capacity is expected to rise further. The Health Ministry has dispatched leading health care experts and modern medical equipment to Danang to help the central city combat the disease.