More than 21,000 people in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have been ordered to take a coronavirus test over fears of new wave of infections.
Authorities said this on Thursday as the country makes effort to contain the nation’s first outbreak after three virus-free months.
During the week, a man in the coastal city of Danang tested positive for COVID-19 – the first community transmission the country had detected since April.
Since then, more than 40 new infections have been found, spreading out from popular tourist destination, Danang to neighbouring provinces and cities.
The health ministry has urged everyone who visited the seaside city in July to come forward for test.
Hanoi‘s ruling body stated that the mass testing would be carried out until Saturday among thousands of residents who recently returned from Danang.
In Hanoi, 600 kilometres (370 miles) north of Danang, authorities have detected two new cases so far.
Hanoi’s bars have been closed since Wednesday, while fairs and festivals were suspended.
At a clinic in the capital on Thursday, medical workers in protective suits took blood samples and mouth swabs at a makeshift rapid-testing centre.
Most of the new infections are linked to three Danang hospitals, which have now been placed under lockdown.
All flights in and out of Danang and public transport within the city have been suspended, and the majority of its 1.1 million inhabitants have been advised to remain at home.
The swift halt to movement comes after Danang has enjoyed weeks of local tourists returning, especially after Vietnam lifted nationwide restrictions in April.
The communist state has won praise for its handling of the virus — reporting just 464 infections in total, including those from the new wave, and no deaths despite sharing a long, ungovernable border with China.
