Arrivals to Nội Bài International Airport, Hà Nội, have dropped in the fourth wave of infections since late April, 2021. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hùng

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội health authorities on Thursday said arrivals from HCM City would undergo COVID-19 screening tests for 4-5 days due to the severity of the outbreak in the southern city.

Hà Nội Centre for Disease Control, in co-ordination with the medical centre of Sóc Sơn District (where Nội Bài International Airport is based), will randomly take samples from a total of 400 passengers on flights from Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport landing in Hà Nội to be tested using the rapid diagnostic method.

The selected passengers would need to remain at Nội Bài airport for 20 minutes for the test results to be returned.

If the results return positive, they would need to be tested for COVID-19 using the confirmatory RT-PCR method and be moved to an isolation ward in Nội Bài to await the final results.

Hà Nội CDC said it started by randomly testing 97 passengers on two flights from HCM City, and all returned negative results.

The screening period will run for 4-5 days.

HCM City since late May has recorded 1,100 locally acquired COVID-19 infections, making it the third biggest hotspot in the country during the fourth wave, following Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh provinces in the north. 

Hà Nội's COVID-19 situation seems to have calmed, with only one or two cases logged in the past few days. — VNS