Why has the Ministry of Health not announced that Nghe An has quarantined 11 people on the flight with Covid-19 patients?
(Baonghean.vn) - Nghe An's timely quarantine has received support from many people in the context of a complicated epidemic, with many "super-spreading" patients appearing.
The whole political system is involved.
Early on the morning of March 14, the Nghe An Department of Health received information that a passenger on flight QR968 to Hanoi the day before tested positive for Covid-19. On this flight, there were 11 people from Nghe An, after getting off the plane, they boarded a bus to return to their hometown.
Although the Ministry of Health has not yet announced this case, Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of Nghe An Department of Health immediately issued an urgent document to find 11 passengers to take them to centralized quarantine as soon as possible. This document was sent to the People's Committees of districts, cities, towns, all provincial departments, branches and sectors as well as many related units to join in the investigation.
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| Currently, 11 people have been safely quarantined at medical facilities. Photo: Tien Hung |
"However, at that time, there was a big difficulty. That was the list of 11 passengers sent by the Ministry of Health, some people only had a general address "Nghe An" without specifically stating which district or commune. Therefore, the search would be more difficult," Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh said.
At this time, with reliable sources, Nghe An Newspaper also published information confirming that this case was positive for Covid-19 so that people could proactively check and detect through data such as flight name, landing time and address of passengers.... Although at this time, the Ministry of Health has not yet announced that this case is positive. (In fact, up to that time, the patient had been tested twice and both results were positive).
Then, just a few hours after the urgent document from the Department of Health, the authorities found all 11 passengers. "That day, I had to skip lunch. Because we had to go through the screening process to quarantine them as soon as possible. If we weren't quick, every minute that passed, the number of people they came into contact with would increase, and the risk of infection would increase," said Mr. Nguyen Van Long - Director of Vinh City Medical Center. Of the 11 people on the flight, there were 2 people in Vinh City. These 2 passengers had specific names and addresses, so the search and quarantine at the medical facility happened very quickly.
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| The District Medical Center's vehicle came to the house to take people to centralized quarantine. Photo: Contributor |
Prepare response scenarios
For cases without names or specific addresses, the localities were also quickly found. Such as the case of a worker in Nghi Quang commune (Nghi Loc district). In the list of passengers announced by the Ministry of Health, Nghi Loc district did not have any cases. But just a few hours after the urgent document from the Department of Health, the only male passenger in this district on flight QR968 was quarantined at a medical facility.To quarantine in such a timely manner, Mr. Vo Van Thang - Director of Nghi Loc District Medical Center said that it was thanks to careful preparation, anticipating local scenarios as well as mass mobilization work.
"Many days ago, we went to the homes of relatives abroad to get information. In Nghi Loc district, we know all the information about any case that has just returned from abroad. Therefore, immediately after receiving information that a passenger on flight QR968 tested positive for Covid-19, we immediately compared it with the list of people who had just returned to the locality and found that the information matched a case. Immediately, this person was taken to quarantine," said Mr. Thang.
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| Nghe An has organized many drills to bring people from abroad to centralized quarantine like this. Photo: Tien Hung |
Similar to Nghi Loc district, although the list provided by the Ministry of Health did not include the specific addresses of any passengers, Nam Dan district was able to promptly find and quarantine 3 people on this flight.
Regarding this, Mr. Ho Son - Director of Nam Dan District Medical Center said that because the list attached to the urgent document of the Department of Health did not mention any commune, immediately after receiving it, the Covid-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee of Nam Dan immediately sent a notice to all communes for review. Not long after, the authorities found that 3 people in a family in Kim Lien commune were on that flight.
"After finding them, many of my brothers and I went directly to this house to take medical statements and at the same time instruct the family members to monitor their health at home. Along with this work, we also organized the spraying of disinfectant chemicals at this house as well as at the medical facility to welcome the 3 people to centralized quarantine for 14 days," said Mr. Son.
By early afternoon, all 11 Nghe An passengers on flight QR968 had been taken to centralized quarantine at medical facilities. Meanwhile, it was not until after 4 p.m. the same day that the Ministry of Health announced this case. Such timely quarantine in Nghe An has received support from many people in the context of the complicated epidemic, with many "super-spreading" patients appearing. Many opinions even said that "it is better to quarantine the wrong person than to miss them", in order to minimize the spread of the disease to the community.
Regarding these 11 passengers, Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Director of the Center for Disease Control of Nghe An province said that their health is currently stable. Although they were on the same plane as the patient, they sat in different cabins. Currently, the authorities are only quarantining them at a medical facility. If they show symptoms of the disease within 14 days, samples will be taken for testing.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with the press about why the Ministry of Health was slow to announce cases despite having previously tested positive, a member of the communications subcommittee of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control said that because it is the final and authentic source of information, the communications subcommittee will only announce it when it has complete test results locally and from laboratories recognized by the World Health Organization, specifically the laboratories of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Nha Trang Pasteur Institute, and Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute.
However, in the meantime, if there is a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 in the locality, the localities will still carry out the epidemic prevention as usual and implement measures to prevent the spread as with other positive cases. In addition, the locality can also specifically announce the patient's condition. The communications subcommittee will wait until there is a second positive result at the above-mentioned accredited laboratory and confirm the patient's serial number recorded in Vietnam.