Strictly implement medical declaration to prevent Covid-19 epidemic

Evading declaration, quarantine...demand to burn medical station

On the evening of August 12, Nghe An people were shocked to hear that in Nghia Dan district, a person had returned from an epidemic area without making a medical declaration and then had a fever, suspected of having Covid-19. The information was announced: The person who returned from the epidemic area without making a medical declaration was Mr. TVL, in Nghia Loc commune, Nghia Dan district. On July 26, Mr. L returned to his hometown from Da Nang city but did not make a medical declaration. On August 5, he had a fever and on August 7, he went to a private clinic for examination and treatment without going to the medical station. His condition did not improve, so on August 12, Mr. L went to the Nghia Dan District Medical Center for examination and treatment.

Spraying disinfectant chemicals at home in case of returning from epidemic areas without medical declaration. Photo: Document

At Nghia Dan District Medical Center, patient TVL has just made a medical declaration, travel history, and contact history since returning to the locality from Da Nang. Through the declaration, it is known that the patient has been to many places and contacted many people... Immediately, Nghia Dan Medical Center took the patient's sample and sent it to Nghe An Provincial Center for Disease Control to test for Covid-19. The patient was transferred to isolation and treatment at the Northwest Regional General Hospital. In the afternoon and evening of August 12, the Medical Center urgently disinfected the patient's family; investigated close contacts.

On the evening of August 12 and early morning of August 13, people across the province were anxiously awaiting the Covid-19 test results for this quarantine escapee. Fortunately, the first test result of patient TVL's sample was negative for Covid-19... During this time, on social networks, many people in the province and many other localities strongly protested against patient TVL's behavior of not declaring his health, being unconscious, lacking responsibility for public health and violating the law, and requested the authorities to handle it strictly.

Nghe An provincial authorities stopped a passenger bus carrying people returning from the epidemic area. Photo courtesy of Tien Hung

In Nghe An province, people returning from epidemic areas without declaring their health status and avoiding quarantine are not uncommon. Especially since the Covid-19 epidemic entered phase 3 - breaking out in Da Nang and other localities across the country. Doctor Nguyen Van Long - Director of Vinh City Medical Center and Doctor Le Quang Trung - Deputy Director of Que Phong District Medical Center said: In both localities, there are still people who lack awareness of declaring their health status after returning to epidemic areas. Fortunately, with a high spirit of disease prevention, people in both localities promptly reported these behaviors to health agencies.

The lack of awareness of disease prevention for themselves and the community of those returning from epidemic areas is highly condemnable. Doctor Nguyen Trong Di - Deputy Head of the Department of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Nghe An Provincial Center for Disease Control (responsible for receiving information about the Covid-19 epidemic from the Nghe An health sector hotline) shared his indignation: There were people who did not comply with Directive 16 of the Prime Minister, returned to their localities, were sought by the local authorities and taken to quarantine under the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, called the hotline and asked "Will I get financial support when I go to quarantine?" There was another case, people who escaped from Da Nang, after being denounced by the people and taken to quarantine, called the hotline to curse, threaten, demanded to burn down the medical station and challenged that they would escape to Da Nang again to bring the disease back.

Medical declaration at Nam Can International Border Gate. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Reality shows that: The reason why people returning from epidemic areas do not declare their health status is not only due to lack of awareness of disease prevention but also because the penalties prescribed by law are still light, as well as the localities have not been strict in handling violations, so there is no deterrent effect. One of the few cases that has been handled is the Chairman of the People's Committee of Huu Kiem Commune, Ky Son District, who issued a decision to administratively fine 1 million VND to Mr. VVM, 35 years old, in Huu Kiem Commune, who returned from Hanoi to Ky Son without complying with the health status declaration in early August 2020.

The act of escaping from the quarantine area will be subject to administrative penalties - fines from 5-10 million VND, forced medical quarantine, forced medical quarantine (according to Decree 176/2013/ND-CP); criminal liability - imprisonment of up to 12 years (Article 240, Penal Code 2015). The act of not declaring or concealing the Covid-19 epidemic will be subject to a warning or a fine from 200,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND (according to Decision 219/QD-BYT and Decree 176/2013/ND-CP).

Need more cooperation and decisive action

Information from the Nghe An health sector: Since the beginning of July 2020, the whole province has had over 20,000 people returning from epidemic areas. The vast majority of people returning from epidemic areas have made good medical declarations and quarantined themselves at home or at medical facilities. All suspected cases of Covid-19 have been tested and have negative results.

Covid-19 testing at Nghe An Center for Disease Control. Photo courtesy of Thanh Cuong

However, the risk of Covid-19 entering the area is always present when there are still illegal immigrants and illegal immigration organizations on the border; there are people returning from epidemic areas to their localities without declaring their health and performing quarantine according to regulations. In the online meeting between the health sector and 21 newly held districts, cities and towns, Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh, Director of the Department of Health, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of Nghe An province, clearly stated this issue and requested localities to seriously review and monitor these subjects, and require quarantine according to the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Health and the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

To prevent and combat the Covid-19 epidemic, Nghe An province has issued many directive documents, clearly assigning responsibilities to each department, branch, and locality, as well as providing specific solutions such as: Doing well the 4-on-the-spot work; strengthening screening, making lists, classifying, and appropriately isolating all suspected cases and people returning to epidemic areas; taking samples and testing all suspected cases... In addition, the province also requires departments, branches, localities, and units to organize dissemination, mobilization, and guidance for people to install the Bluezone application to prevent Covid-19.

Using Bluezone software is a way to protect yourself from the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Bluezone is an application that quickly tracks people at risk of Covid-19 infection and warns users if they come into close contact with someone infected with Covid-19. The application is for smartphones running iOS and Android. When a new Covid-19 infection is detected, the patient's contact history will be sent to smartphones for comparison. If a match is found, the user will receive a warning about the risk of infection. Installing Bluezone is just a small action but has great significance in preventing and fighting the epidemic.

Focusing highly on and resolutely preventing the epidemic, on August 6, 2020, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document 5816/UBND-VX on reviewing and checking citizens from epidemic areas returning to the province. The document clearly stated: After a period of time when localities with Covid-19 epidemic spreading in the community announced the requirement for social distancing, some Nghe An citizens living, working and studying in the above localities still returned to reside in the province, not strictly implementing measures to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Provincial People's Committee requests the People's Committees of districts, cities, towns, and the provincial police to direct relevant units to conduct screening, inspection, and require citizens returning from epidemic areas to undergo medical quarantine in accordance with regulations and instructions of the Ministry of Health. Citizens from Da Nang City and epidemic areas returning to Nghe An after July 28, 2020 must undergo quarantine at approved centralized quarantine facilities in wards, communes, and towns.

Making health declarations for people when visiting medical facilities. Photo: Thanh Chung

Nghe An province's direction on Covid-19 prevention and control is very clear. Departments and localities have been actively involved. However, local efforts to prevent Covid-19 will be meaningless when people returning from epidemic areas lack awareness and cooperation, and some localities and people are lax and take epidemic prevention lightly... Information shows that currently, a large number of Nghe An people have returned, are returning and will return from epidemic areas. Many of them have not complied with the Directive on social distancing right in the epidemic area. Thus, no one can be sure that those people will make medical declarations and quarantine according to regulations when returning to their localities.

We think: The Covid-19 epidemic can only be completely resolved when there is a vaccine. In this phase, to effectively prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic, not only the medical sector and functional forces, but all localities need to continue to take drastic measures as in phases 1 and 2 of epidemic prevention. An effective measure is to propagate and count families with people in epidemic areas; require families to sign a commitment that when relatives from epidemic areas are about to return, they need to notify the authorities to grasp, monitor, supervise, and quarantine according to regulations. All people also need to continue to raise the spirit of denouncing those who do not comply with epidemic prevention regulations; authorities are ready to set up checkpoints and search for people returning from epidemic areas without declaring when necessary./.