A village in Nghe An had just stopped social distancing for a few hours, but had to be locked down again because of a case returning from Ho Chi Minh City.

On the afternoon of July 4, a leader of Dien Thinh commune (Dien Chau) said that the authorities had closed the blockade of village 12 after the Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Chau district decided to establish a social isolation area according to Directive 16 for this village from 6:00 p.m. on July 4. Thus, after only 18 hours of switching to social distancing according to Directive 15, this village had to return to social isolation according to Directive 16.

This move is related to a case returning from Ho Chi Minh City. Accordingly, on July 1, this person flew from Ho Chi Minh City to his hometown and was quarantined at home. On July 3, upon receiving information that a fellow countryman staying in the same room in Ho Chi Minh City had contracted Covid-19, this person immediately made a medical declaration. Test results later showed that he was also infected.

After discovering this case, Nghe An Department of Health issued an urgent notice to find passengers on flight VN 1264 departing at 12:30 on July 1, 2021 from Tan Son Nhat Airport to Vinh Airport at 13:30.

Authorities have set up checkpoints to control people entering and leaving village 12. Photo: TH

According to the patient's declaration, after arriving at Vinh Airport, he took a motorbike taxi to the checkpoint to enter and exit Vinh City on National Highway 1A through Nghi Lien Commune, then took a taxi to his hometown. The health agency is currently urgently looking for the motorbike taxi driver on this route and the taxi driver who took the patient from Nghi Lien to Dien Thinh at 3:30 p.m. on July 1.

Dien Thinh Commune is one of the localities with the most Covid-19 cases, with 7 patients. Because some of the cases are commune officials, most of the commune leaders have been quarantined at their headquarters since June 17. The entire commune has been socially isolated according to Directive 16 since then. After the situation was basically under control, with new cases mainly recorded in the quarantine area, on the evening of July 3, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee decided to relax the restrictions in this commune.

Accordingly, from 0:00 on July 4, 8 out of 12 hamlets of Dien Thinh commune stopped social distancing according to Directive 16 and switched to social distancing according to Directive 15. 4 hamlets continued to implement Directive 16, including hamlet 3, hamlet 8, hamlet 9, hamlet 10. Particularly hamlet 12, which had just switched to social distancing according to Directive 15 for less than a day, had to be socially isolated again according to Directive 16 because of a case returning from Ho Chi Minh City.