Vietnam Conducts Tracking And Locking Epicenter Area, Second Wave Of COVID-19 Arrives?

Danang City, the epicenter of the new COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam (Unsplash / Ngo Thanh Tung)

JAKARTA - Vietnam, a country that has been praised for its mitigation efforts in dealing with COVID-19, is battling several new cases related to Danang City. The COVID-19 cases in Vietnam returned after more than three months without detecting any domestic transmission. Is this a sign the second wave has hit?

"We must mobilize our full strength to curb all known epicenter, especially the one in Danang," Prime Minister (PM) Nguyen Xuan Phuc said via the official Vietnam Television (VTV) broadcast. "Early August will be a decisive time to stop the spread of the virus on a large scale," he added.

Citing Reuters, the country of 96 million people has confirmed at least 621 cases of COVID-19, six of which have died. Authorities reported one new case linked to central Danang City, a tourism hub in the country, where the first domestically transmitted case in 100 days was detected on July 24.

The new outbreak has spread to 10 regions including the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. The central business city of Ho Chi Minh is also known to have 174 new cases of COVID-19. While the source of the new outbreak is not clear.

Meanwhile, four cases were found in factories in various industrial areas in Danang. Collectively, the factories employ 77,000 people, said the Lao Dong newspaper.

The Vietnamese government said it plans to test the entire population in Danang of 1.1 million people. This is claimed to be part of the unprecedented action to combat COVID-19 in the country.

Danang City has been implementing lockdown since last week. Prohibited people who are in Danang are prohibited from leaving the city and the city is also prohibited from visiting. All entertainment venues in Danang have also been closed.

Buon Ma Thuot, a city in Vietnam's Central Highlands region that is filled with coffee plants, is also a key area. Twenty-three percent of the latest infections in Vietnam are asymptomatic, the government said in a statement. The Vietnamese PM said the new outbreak was having a more difficult impact than the previous wave.

Authorities say the strain detected in Danang is more contagious. Each person infected could infect 5 to 6 people, compared to the previous wave which could only infect 1.8-2.2 people.

Vietnam has carried out 52,000 COVID-19 tests in the past seven days. The Ministry of Health data does not include the rapid tests used for mass screening. In addition, authorities have taken other measures including the mobilization of several hundred military school students to help trace contacts and collect test samples.