Vietnam has full testing techniques to detect and diagnose SARS-CoV-2 virus.

On the morning of May 13, 2021, at the Ministry of Health, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan chaired an online meeting with the Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institutes, and testing units under the Ministry of Health across the country.

Prof. Dr. Tran Van Thuan affirmed that Vietnam currently has all the testing techniques to detect and diagnose SARS-CoV-2 virus, including: Realtime RT-PCR for Covid-19 confirmation testing; rapid antigen testing and rapid antibody testing.

Regarding testing capacity, Vietnam's testing capacity has improved significantly, 2-3 times higher than previous epidemics. Currently, laboratories nationwide can perform up to 100,000 single samples/day. Capacity increases sharply by 5, 10 times if using the pooling method (pooling 5, pooling 10...).

At the same time, Vietnam has issued full implementation instructions for each type of test, for situations, including the situation where the whole country has 30,000 infections.SARS-CoV-2.

Prof. Dr. Tran Van Thuan - Deputy Minister of Health gave a speech.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan directed the Department of Preventive Medicine and the Department of Science, Technology and Training to regularly organize conferences to share experiences and update knowledge on testing for other units and local medical facilities.

The Ministry of Health's leaders also said that they will increase communication so that people are more aware of the role and significance of SARS-CoV-2 testing in the fight against COVID-19.Covid-19 prevention.

Reporting specifically on testing capacity, Ms. Nguyen Minh Hang - Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine said that rapid antigen testing aims to support Covid-19 epidemic monitoring and support RT-PCR results, which Vietnam has just started using. Rapid antibody testing is for screening, research, and epidemiological assessment.

Online meeting between the Ministry of Health and the Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute, and testing units.

"These techniques have all been fully implemented by the Ministry of Health, to support licensed laboratories nationwide in improving their testing capacity," Ms. Hang affirmed.

Regarding testing reagents, there are currently 3 types of reagents used for testing techniques. Of these, there are 16 types of reagents for RT-PCR testing, 4 types of reagents for rapid antigen testing, and 9 types of reagents for antibody testing. These are the types of reagents licensed for circulation by the Ministry of Health. In addition, Vietnam also uses reagents recommended by the World Health Organization or the US CDC.

According to the report of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, the country currently has 100 hospitals with laboratories (including confirmation laboratories and screening laboratories).

Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan said that the Ministry of Health recently issued an official dispatch directing all hospitals with 300 beds or more to have a confirmatory testing laboratory. The Deputy Minister requested the Department of Preventive Medicine to continue sending official dispatches to facilities to enhance testing capacity.