Hanoi races against time to trace contacts of Japanese patient

Hanoi’s authorities have been urged to make aggressive contact tracing after the death of a Japanese Covid-19 patient whose transmission source remains unknown.

Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue works with Tay Ho authorities. Photo: the Hanoi Party Committee

The local government needs to prioritize contact tracing and testing to verify whether the patient got infected from: Japan, Ho Chi Minh City, on way to Hanoi, or in Hanoi, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue said Tuesday [February 16].

“I demand local authorities to race against the clock to answer that question,” Hue said when working with authorities of Tay Ho District which is home to a hotel where the Japanese man had stayed and died.

Notably, tracing contact of people who had contact with confirmed cases (F1) and F2 must be quickly conducted while sequencing genomes of the latest patients.

He asked Tay Ho authorities to keep an eye on all related people and those who are under quarantine at Somerset Westpoint Hotel, ensuring good conditions and medical checkup for more than 100 guests there.

On February 13, the 54-year-old Japanese man was found dead at Somerset Westpoint and he was test positive for SARS-CoV-2 a day later. So far, local police are investigating the death while related agencies are checking the source of transmission. This man was under quarantine in Ho Chi Minh City between January 17 and 31 before flying to Hanoi where he stayed at the hotel from February 1.

The man is an expert working for MITSUI & CO. VIETNAM LTD. So far, two persons made contact with him (his co-workers) have tested positive for the virus.

Local authorities have taken more than 500 tests relating to the Japanese patient.

On February 16, Vietnam reports 40 coronavirus cases, including 38 from Hai Duong, the hotspot of the fresh outbreak which resurfaced since late January. As the case on the rise, this province has been put on lockdown from February 16.