Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long on November 24 urged testing forCOVID-19 to be accelerated, warning about very high risks of coronavirustransmissions from other countries as the pandemic situation remains tensearound the world.

Addressing a teleconference on COVID-19prevention and control, Long said Vietnam has stayed free of communitytransmissions of the disease for 83 straight days.

However, it has still seen imported casesboarding flights from foreign destinations. Meanwhile, although the Ministry ofHealth (MoH) has issued a number of guidelines for quarantine sites, the lackof vigilance remains at several establishments, especially hotels and othercivil accommodation facilities, he pointed out.

Long underlined local authorities’ role inensuring strict management of quarantine sites, asking them to gear up for thepossible appearance of COVID-19 cases in the community.

Noting transmission risks at medicalestablishments, the minister said some hospitals, especially private ones, arestill off guard.

Long said the MoH has continually requestedtesting be increased, but the number of tested samples is only about 4,000 perday, which has almost doubled the figure in July but is still very low comparedto the number of people with flu and pneumonia symptoms.

If the testing speed is not increased, COVID-19infections could be missed, he noted, adding that the faster tests areconducted, the sooner new cases are detected and the transmission is curbed.

The minister also emphasised the need to monitorimported food, noting that the MoH has ordered that frozen food shipped frompandemic-hit countries must undergo COVID-19 testing since the coronavirus cansurvive for a long time.

At the meeting, he also warned abouttransmission risks posed by illegal entries, adding that 77 people had beencaught while trying to illegally enter Vietnam on November 23 alone.

Giving more details, Maj. Gen. Nguyen Duc Manh,Deputy Commander of the Border Guards, said since the year’s beginning, theforce has kept guarding on more than 6,000 border paths and crossings andhandled entry procedures for over 2.7 million people, during which it hasrecorded more than 20,000 cases of illegal entry.

The COVID-19 tally in Vietnam currently standsat 1,316, including 691 locally infected cases. As many as 1,153 patients haverecovered from the disease while the fatalities are maintained at 35./.