Nghe An closely monitors citizens on the same flight as the first Omicron infected case

Tien Hung• December 29, 2021 09:38

(Baonghean.vn) - 5 Nghe An citizens who were on the same flight with the first passenger infected with Omicron were asked to self-isolate at home for another 7 days.

On the morning of December 29, Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of Nghe An Department of Health said that so far, Nghe An province has screened 5 citizens who were on the same flight with the first Omicron infected case in Vietnam. The 5th case has an address in Hung Nguyen district. All of these people currently have negative results for Covid-19.

"These people will be closely monitored. More samples will be taken for testing in the coming time," said Mr. Chinh, adding that a day ago, the Department of Health had issued a document reviewing cases related to the infection with the variant (OMICRON) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Accordingly, the Director of the Department of Health requested the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Command Centers of districts/towns/cities to coordinate with relevant units to organize a review of all citizens on flight BAMBO AIRWAY QH9028 from the UK to Noi Bai airport (evening of December 19, 2021) who returned to stay in the province, and immediately take SARS-CoV-2 test samples for the above cases. If the result is negative, continue to self-monitor your health at home, at your place of residence, do not contact people around you, do not gather in crowded places until 14 days from the date of entry, and take RT-PCR test samples on the 14th day.
Localities are responsible for promptly reporting the results of the review, especially paying attention to the movement of citizens from the quarantine area to their place of residence, to the Department of Health.

Illustration: Tien Hung

At noon on December 28, the Ministry of Health announced the first case of Omicron infection in Vietnam. This person entered Noi Bai airport (Hanoi) on December 19, tested positive for nCoV, and was taken by a specialized vehicle to the quarantine area of the 108 Military Central Hospital. Because this person had epidemiological factors returning from the UK, the hospital sequenced the gene of the patient's samples on December 20 and 21 - the results confirmed infection with the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529).

The Omicron variant was first recorded in South Africa in late November, and is believed to be more contagious than the Delta strain and able to evade vaccines. To date, this variant has appeared in many countries and territories around the world such as the US, UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India, etc. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified this as a variant of concern due to its adverse changes in the epidemiology of Covid-19, and it is likely that Omicron will spread globally.