A technican works at a laboratory in Quảng Nam Province. More tests will be conducted in the province to isolate possible SARS-CoV-2 infection cases. Photo courtesy Quảng Nam Portal

CENTRAL REGION — The central province of Quảng Nam and Đà Nẵng city have accelerated mass testing for the coronavirus.

Vice director of the provincial health department, Mai Văn Mười, said more medical equipment and facilities are being provided to key health centres in the province.

He said the provincial Centre for Disease Control (CDC) could only test 350 out of 1,500 samples each day, while the provincial general hospital could manage only 60 samples.

Mười said a medical centre at the Phan Chu Trinh College was assigned to test 600 medical samples each day to ease overloading.

The province had tested 2,697 samples between July 25 and August 2, while 55 quarantine centres in the province have taken 1,500 people in close contact with COVID-19 patient. They are ready to quarantine more in the future.

Four ventilators, which were donated by Vin Group, have been sent to the provincial general hospital.

A ventilator donated to the general hospital of Đà Nẵng. More doctors, nurses and medical facilities have been sent from Hải Phòng, Bình Định, HCM City and Hà Nội to support Đà Nẵng in the fight against COVID-19. Photo courtesy Đà Nẵng Pubic Security Newspaper

Authorities of Hội An provided food to 2,800 residents in locked down zones each day since the city isolated two residential areas and a pagoda last week.

The Đà Nẵng CDC could handle 6,000 tests alone each day, while three health centres can test thousands more.

According to the city’s health department, at least 10,000 cases need testing each day.

The military hospital C17 has reserved an isolation site with 40 beds for COVID-19 patients, and a laboratory has been built for testing SARS-CoV-2 cases in Đà Nẵng.

General director of the Research&Development company from South Korea, Kim Won Hoon, donated 15,000 face masks, 500 bottles of hand sanitiser and vitamin C supplements.

Hải Phòng City, twinned with Đà Nẵng, has sent a team of 33, including nine doctors and 25 nurses, to help treat COVID-19 patients. More doctors and medical workers from Bình Định Province, Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, Hà Nội and HCM City would come to help the city’s health department.

Hải Phòng also donated VNĐ10 billion and 200,000 face masks as well as medical equipment to Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam.

Body temperature checks and health declarations are taken from every family in Đà Nẵng. Mass tests and medical control will be strictly implemented in the city. VNS Photo Long Khánh

Officers at the Phú Lộc check-point in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province isolated 21 people returning from Đà Nẵng on fishing boats and along coastal paths.

The province has offered special care for six pregnant women at quarantine centres.

Huế has quarantined 22,800 people returning from COVID-19 hotspots. More than 21,000 medical tests have been conducted, of which 14,700 samples tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.

In Quảng Ngãi Province, one more COVID-19 patient (No 419) tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 for the first time after four tests, according to the provincial CDC.

Earlier, a patient (No 370) had tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 for the first time after nine tests at the Bình Sơn health centre.

All four COVID-19 patients at the centre were responding well after 10 days' of treatment, according to CDC’s report. — VNS