Tests for SARS-COV-2 are speeding up in Đà Nãng city in setting the COVID-19 under well control. The city plans to give tests for all people before the election begins on May 23. — Photo courtesy Trần Thị Tuyến

ĐÀ NẴNG — Health authorities in Đà Nẵng plan to launch mass coronavirus testing ahead of the elections on May 23.

All taxi, motorbike delivery services, and ride-hailing services were banned in the city from Monday, while all drivers must be tested for SARS-COV-2 as a Grab motorbike driver tested positive last week.

The city said under nine-seat touring cars will also be suspended from Monday morning.

The service can resume operation when all drivers test negative with SARS-COV-2, and all of them are given healthy certificates.  

This means that restaurants and cafes can still offer takeaway services, but home delivery will not be allowed.

The city said it would begin mass testing for all local people this week. It said all tests will be finished before May 23 so all voters could come safely to polling sites in the city.

The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said it had tested 23,000 samples in one day and night to track all direct and indirect contact cases at industrial parks.

Taxi, grab bike and car service, home delivery service will be banned in Đà Nẵng from May 17 for mass tests for SARS-COV-2. The city could offer 30,000 sample tests each day. — VNS Photo Trần Lê Lâm

Six industrial zones and parks in the city resumed operation last weekend as the COVID-19 outbreaks were under control with a total of 10,160 samples collected from the zones.

Sample collection was sped up at resorts and hotels in the city over the last weekend as 2,300 out of 4,000 staff have been given tests for SARS-COV-2.

At least 134,000 people in Đà Nẵng have been tested since the first positive cases in the fourth COVID-19 wave occurred in the city on April 27.

Primary school students have finished their final examinations at home before the academy year 2020-21 will end on May 18.

Strict regulations on COVID-19 prevention remain in place for public sites and markets, with gatherings of more than five people banned.  

The city’s CDC confirmed at a meeting last week that all SARS-COV-2 infections in the city were identified as having the UK variant (B117).

Following the latest notice from the central Thừa Thiên Huế Province, all people returning from COVID-19 infected areas to the province must be tested before undergoing 21 days of quarantine at home or in a health centre.

The province said it had tested 6,232 people, of which only five were positive cases, since early May. — VNS