Vietnam on Thursday reported a total of 10,654 COVID-19 cases, the highest daily tally the country has ever recorded since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Vietnam in January 2020. The new cases bring the total patient tally to 308,560 since April 27, when the fourth outbreak began. But overall, the number of COVID-19 cases stands at 312,611.
Ho Chi Minh City, the current outbreak epicenter, still has the highest number of new cases. Today, the southern metropolis confirmed 4,425 cases, significantly higher than the average of 3,904.
HCMC’s neighboring provinces Binh Duong and Dong Nai reported 3,255 and 657 new cases, respectively.
The number of COVID-related fatalities have increased to 7,150.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health confirmed that a total of 120,059 people have recovered from the disease so far.
Hanoi shortens mandatory quarantine
The capital city of Hanoi is seeing decreasing numbers of new COVID-19 cases over the last days, thanks to the strict implementation of the Government’s Directive No. 16, which prevented everyone from going out for no essential reason.
As the city continues to enforce social distancing, government officials have decided to shorten the mandatory quarantine period of qualified entrants. Those who are allowed to fly in or travel to Hanoi will need to be quarantined for seven days at centralized camps. Afterwhich, they will undergo a week-long medical surveillance that will be monitored by municipal authorities.
Here are other requirements to be allowed entry to the capital:
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Have a negative RT-PCR/RT-LAMP test certificate issued within 72 hours before the time of departure.
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Have full vaccination certificate with the second dose taken at least 14 days and not more than 12 months before the time of arrival, or certificate of positive SAR-COV-2 test result by the RT-PCR method of single sample which is issued within six months prior to the time of entry or certificate of recovery from COVID-19 and or other equivalent documents indicating recovery from the disease issued by competent agencies of curing countries.
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Qualified entrants must install and turn on Bluezone, a Bluetooth-based app that helps determine if a person has come into contact with a COVID-19, for 14 days since the date of arrival.
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They must always strictly implement the Ministry of Health’s 5K message: Khau trang (facemask)-khu khuan (disinfection)-khoang cach (distance)- khong tu tap (no gathering)-khai bao y te (health declaration).
As of August 19, Hanoi has recorded 2,644 COVID-19 infections since April 27. The city’s social distancing period will end on August 23, but the government has yet to decide whether to lift the restrictions or extend for another period to fully stop coronavirus transmissions within the community.