Nghe An Department of Health provides specific instructions on quarantining people returning from epidemic areas.

Guidance document of Nghe An Department of Health. Photo: Thanh Chung

On June 23, Nghe An Department of Health issued Document No. 2479/SYT-NVY "on organizing quarantine and epidemic prevention".Covid-19in the province" to the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of districts, cities and towns; Provincial Center for Disease Control; Medical Centers of districts, cities and towns.

The document clearly states: Currently, the Covid-19 epidemic situation continues to be very complicated, in Nghe An province, new infections are continuously recorded in the community... In order to effectively implement the work of preventing and controlling the Covid-19 epidemic in the province, the Department of Health requests the Steering Committee for Covid-19 prevention and control of districts, cities, towns and related units to direct the implementation of contents related to Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control isolation activities as follows:

1.For cases returning from areas under medical isolation (lockdown) according to Decision No. 3968/QD-BYT dated September 16, 2020 of the Ministry of Health on promulgating "Guidelines for organizing medical isolation in areas with Covid-19 epidemic": Organize centralized isolation for at least 21 days from the date of leaving the medical isolation area and take samples according to regulations.

2.For cases returning from areas in Nghe An province that are implementing social isolation according to Directive No. 16/CT-TTg dated March 31, 2020 of the Prime Minister on urgent measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic, it is required to declare health, verify, investigate information and implement epidemic prevention measures:

-For close contacts (F1), centralized quarantine is required for at least 21 days from the date of contact with the Covid-19 patient.

-For the remaining cases, organize medical isolation at home according to the instructions in Decision No. 879/QD-BYT dated March 12, 2020 of the Ministry of Health on promulgating "Guidelines for medical isolation at home and place of residence to prevent and control Covid-19 epidemic".

3.For cases returning from areas in Nghe An province that are implementing social distancing according to Directive No. 15/CT-TTg dated March 27, 2020 of the Prime Minister on drastic implementation of the peak period of Covid-19 prevention and control: Require medical declaration and self-monitoring of health according to regulations.

4.For those who have been to or returned from localities with community cases within the past 21 days, if they have symptoms of fever, cough, difficulty breathing or suspected symptoms of Covid-19 infection, they must be immediately transferred to a medical facility for isolation, testing, and timely treatment.

5.Medical Centers of districts, cities and towns advise the District Steering Committee to direct the organization of quarantine according to regulations; at the same time, immediately deploy tracing teams and self-management teams in the community to seriously review, verify information, make lists, organize medical declarations, and conduct epidemiological investigations immediately after receiving information related to cases returning from epidemic areas; absolutely do not be subjective or negligent in the face of any developments of the epidemic.

6. The Provincial Center for Disease Control is the focal point for directing the review, guiding the classification of subjects, synthesizing the number of above cases and sending them to the Department of Health before 5:00 p.m. every day. Promptly instructing localities to implement isolation measures, health monitoring, and epidemic prevention in accordance with regulations.