Easing the social distancing according to the principle of gradual and sure de-escalation

The dispatch clearly stated: Implementing the direction of the Prime Minister, Head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on thoroughly implementing testing and some measures to prevent and control Covid-19 during social distancing and strengthening social distancing; following Dispatch No. 1409/CD-BYT dated September 15, 2021, the Ministry of Health - the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee requested the Steering Committees for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of provinces and centrally-run cities to request provinces and cities to urgently implement the directions and conclusions of the Government, the Prime Minister and the instructions of the Ministry of Health in Dispatch No. 1409/CD-BYT on testing and some measures to prevent and control the epidemic during social distancing.

The Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of provinces and centrally run cities needs to disseminate to all districts, communes, wards and towns; focusing on implementing in very high-risk and high-risk areas.

The dispatch also stated that, based on the implementation results, localities will decide to relax social distancing according to the principle of implementing a roadmap and gradually lowering the risk level step by step and with certainty.

In risky areas (yellow zones) and new normal areas (green zones), units conduct testing with risky groups and locations to promptly adjust appropriate epidemic prevention and control measures.

* Previously, in Official Dispatch 1409/CD-BYT, the Ministry of Health requested that provinces and cities, when implementing social distancing, must determine the scope and scale of distancing. The principle is to be in the smallest, narrowest scope possible such as villages, hamlets, groups, hamlets, neighborhoods...

The Ministry of Health emphasized that rapid testing is key and important to control the epidemic soon. For very high-risk and high-risk areas (red zones, orange zones), localities must test all residents in the area 3 times within 7 days, prioritizing the use of rapid antigen tests to detect F0 in order to isolate the source of infection and provide timely treatment.

Units can combine rapid antigen testing and RT-PCR testing.

The remaining areas conduct testing every 5-7 days, pooling samples according to practical conditions, by household, room and adjacent households.

Localities focus on sampling forces for very high-risk and high-risk areas; divide sampling points, organize many sampling teams; rapid antigen testing can be done by volunteers or people.