The national health declaration form is similar to the health declaration form for immigrants.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, stated that Vietnam has officially entered phase 2 of the fight against the pandemic when the 17th case appeared. Phase 2 is more difficult than the first phase as the pandemic has spread to more than 100 countries, meaning that the pandemic must be contained from all sides.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Health, the Vietnam Social Security, network operators, and information technology units to urgently complete the organization plan and technological tools to implement health declaration for all people nationwide by the morning of March 10 at the latest to serve the goal of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic.

By the afternoon of March 9, the Ministry of Information and Communications in coordination with the Ministry of Health launched two applications (apps), including the NCOVI application for Vietnamese people and the Vietnam health declaration application for people entering Vietnam. This is a system that helps management agencies to have maximum control over the immigration situation, and control the Covid-19 epidemic that is taking place very complicatedly in Vietnam and around the world.

The Ministry of Health said that health declaration is carried out for all people in the country, similar to the application of electronic health declaration for visitors arriving/returning from all countries, with information on name, age, address, health insurance card number, health status (chronic disease/or not), symptoms of cough, fever, difficulty breathing... Along with that, some epidemiological information such as contact status with people suspected of having/having Covid-19; history of traveling/entering from epidemic areas...

Health declaration information will be stored on the network so that competent authorities can look it up online, helping to control factors related to the epidemic's developments. From the updated information, local health authorities will have a basic grasp of personal health developments, promptly contact and support health monitoring in necessary situations. Therefore, people's awareness is extremely important, especially health declaration information must be completely accurate.

“We have made health declaration mandatory for everyone entering Vietnam, however, that is not enough. We need to implement health declaration for all Vietnamese people. This is not only a responsibility to fight the epidemic according to regulations but also a specific action for all Vietnamese people to join hands, unite, and fight the epidemic,” Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasized.

According to Associate Professor Tran Dac Phu, former Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, currently an Advisor to the Center for Public Health Emergency Response (Ministry of Health), public health declaration requires the self-awareness and responsibility of each individual: “Health declaration helps detect early, isolate and promptly contain outbreaks to prevent the spread of disease in case of cases. Through professional expertise, competent authorities will detect risk factors. If the declaration is dishonest, affecting disease prevention and control, it will be handled according to the provisions of law.”

Faced with the complicated developments of the current Covid-19 epidemic, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam also affirmed that Vietnam has anticipated all situations and has prepared a response plan, even if there are thousands of infections. Therefore, in the coming days, if there are dozens or hundreds of infections, Vietnam will not be surprised.

Regarding entry, the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control has discussed and agreed to recommend to the Prime Minister and the Government to temporarily suspend unilateral visa exemption for countries in the European Union (EU) and the UK; temporarily suspend non-EU countries with more than 500 infections or with more than 50 infections increasing in a day; and refuse to grant visas to foreigners entering Vietnam if they have symptoms and epidemiological factors according to regulations./.