The request was made in a plan issued by the City People’s Committee on December 27, responding to the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Hanoi requires strengthening supervision of people on entry at the Noi Bai International Airport. (Photo: VNA)
Accordingly, the city asked for strengthening supervision, detecting and organizing timely isolation of cases on entry with symptoms of fever and cough, especially passengers or flights to/from countries where cases of Omicron have been recorded; strictly implementing regulations on international medical quarantine, especially, requiring entering passengers to have a negative test within 72 hours from entry into Vietnam; and strengthening the control of the certificate of negative test results, and passengers’ medical declaration on entry.
The City People’s Committee also requested relevant agencies to strengthen the review of passengers coming from countries and regions where the new variant has been recorded and spread, such as southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique).
For flights originating from or with passengers arriving from countries where the Omicron variant is present, it is mandatory to carry out centralized isolation for people entering from these countries, regardless of their history of being vaccinated or being infected with COVID-19 before.
In addition to the request to strengthen supervision and early detection of suspected cases of Omicron variant in residential areas, agencies, enterprises and businesses, the City People's Committee also proposed to organize health monitoring activities at medical facilities, in the community, at agencies, units and businesses, especially in cases related to immigrants.
The City People's Committee also requires laboratories to proactively detect early cases of Omicron variant infection through tests.
In addition, it is possible to organize random surveillance of some other suspected cases depending on the pandemic situation in the country and in the world.
Under the direction in the plan, if the city detects the first cases of Omicron variant infection, it will focus on investigating and tracing the initial source of infection and close contacts to promptly deal with them and cut off the chain of infection./.