Bạch Mai Hospital now only opens the gate on Giải Phóng Street. —VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health has set up a special task force with 15 members to support Bạch Mai Hospital to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to the community.

The move came after the hospital was considered as potentially posing a high risk of spreading the virus to the community, said deputy minister Nguyễn Trường Sơn.

Cross infection of the virus was identified to have occurred in the hospital with three confirmed cases, Sơn said when he chaired a meeting with the hospital and agencies on Wednesday morning.

The task force, led by Lương Ngọc Khuê, head of the ministry’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department, was assigned to assist the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to supervise the deployment of infection prevention measures in the hospital.

The hospital has temporarily shut its funeral home and minimised the number of people in the hospital, with only one entrance gate open on Giải Phóng Street.

Some 500 medical staff of the hospital’s Centre for Tropical Diseases and the Cardiology and Neurology Department have been quarantined in the hospital.

The ministry has ordered many units to co-ordinate to take samples of 5,000 people, including 4,000 medical staff to test for SARS-CoV2 between Thursday and Sunday.

The ministry also required localities to make a list of their residents who visited the hospital since March 10 to take samples for testing.

It is reported that in Hải Phòng City alone, there are 380 people. 

Trần Đắc Phu, a senior expert of the Việt Nam Public Health Emergency Operation Centre, said after the first tests showed results, expected yesterday, the ministry then evaluated the exact level of infectious risk to the community.

Limiting treatment in Bạch Mai

In a related move, Khuê signed on Thursday a document ordering the health department in localities to limit transferring patients to the hospital for treatment.

Khuê said if a provincial-level hospital failed to treat a patient, the hospital should transfer the patient to other leading hospitals, apart from Bạch Mai Hospital.

If a provincial-level hospital was forced to transfer a patient to Bạch Mai Hospital for further treatment, it was told to strictly follow current regulations on personal protection, he said.

Additionally, provincial-level hospitals should contact the department for further support if they had issues implementing the order, he added.— VNS