Medical workers take samples from residents in Hà Nội's Hoàng Mai District on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội is collecting one million samples for COVID-19 screening tests from August 18 to 20, the city's Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said.

The high-risk groups include shippers, sellers at wet markets, employees of supermarkets and trade centres, sellers at home-based grocery stores, petrol sellers, long-haul truck drivers, security guards, construction workers, sellers at pharmacies, workers at retail warehouses, persons performing duties at pandemic checkpoints, those participating in anti-pandemic activities, and environmental workers.

The second phase of mass RT-PCR testing aims to identify and isolate infection cases from “red zones”, high-risk areas, and new pandemic hotbeds.

The CDC called on people in these groups to contact local health authorities to have samples taken for testing, which is free of charge.

The first phase, conducted citywide from August 10 to 15, collected more than 313,010 samples, discovering 29 infection cases in five districts, including 23 in Đống Đa, three in Thanh Trì, and one in Hoàng Mai, Hà Đông and Thanh Oai each. — VNS