Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - People living in high risk or very high risk areasmust be tested for SARS-CoV-2 three times a week, while those living in otherareas tested every five or seven days.

Thisis part of the latest guidelines sent by the Ministry of Health tosteering committees for COVID-19 prevention and control in provinces and citiesnationwide on September 14. The guidelines concentrate on testing and preventivemeasures to take when localities implement social distancing.

Accordingto the ministry, ramping up testing was important to control the disease. Inareas with a high/very high risk of COVID-19 infection, rapidantigen tests should be given priority to immediately isolatepositive cases.

Rapidantigen tests and RT-PCR tests could be combined.

Inareas with less risk of infection, pooled testing can be used based on specificconditions, for example, combining testing samples from people of the same family,the same building or neighbours.

Underthe guidelines, localities should arrange testing sites for small areas.Volunteers and people can help take samples for rapid antigen tests.

Ifunable to conduct mass testing, areas at high/very high risk must report to thenational steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control or ask for helpfrom other areas.

TheHealth Ministry asked localities to set up and operate mobile healthcarestations based in communes/wards which have high/very high risks of infection.Schools, community houses and offices could be turned into a mobile healthcarestations so that people could access health services as soon as possible.

Communes,wards and towns that are under the 'new normal' stage must also prepare sites, medicalequipment and staff to use in case their situation worsens.

Authoritiesmust continuously evaluate COVID-19 risks to decide to impose socialdistancing measures or loosen the measures in specific areas. Socialdistancing measures must be loosened step by step while screening tests aremaintained.

Inthe guidelines, the ministry emphasised that social distancing measuresshould be put in place in as-small-as-possible areas, for example, ahamlet, a residential group or a street.

Thesocial distancing aims to stop infections and control the disease as soon aspossible – within 14 days.

Socialdistancing measures must be implemented strictly. During social distancing, thesupply of food and other essentials for affected people must be ensured.Medical measures like testing, treatment and vaccination must be conductedsystematically. Measures are also needed to ensure that people can accesshealth services early, at the grassroots level.

Inthe last few months, 23 provinces and cities in Vietnam have implemented socialdistancing measures and stricter measures to control COVID-19.

Socialdistancing brought positive results in curbing COVID-19 infections.

However,in some localities, social distancing has been extended due to improperimplementation of measures, a lack of detailed goals, scale and time to applysocial distancing or insufficient testing.

Accordingto the ministry, the COVID-19 pandemic is developing and may last for a longtime, especially with the presence of the Delta variant which can spread mucheasier and faster than the original SARS-CoV-2 and other variants./.