Vietnam strives to stamp out Covid-19 at Hanoi hospital: Deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has called for mobilization of all resources to stamp out Covid-19 at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, one of the largest of its kind in Vietnam, VnExpress reported.

At an online meeting on March 28, Dam said this was "a very important task" in the coming days and called on the Ministry of Health, Hanoi’s government and Bach Mai Hospital to use all resources to carry out the mission.

Bach Mai Hospital is under lockdown from March 28. Photo: Giang Huy

"Stamping out Covid-19 outbreaks is crucial when it has spread to the community," Dam said, adding that Vietnam has done a good job in containing Covid-19 outbreaks in provinces of Vinh Phuc and Binh Thuan, and promptly isolating passengers arrived on Vietnam Airlines flight VN0054.

However, two new coronavirus outbreaks in the country, the Buddha bar in Ho Chi Minh City with 13 Covid-19 patients and Bach Mai Hospital with 16, need to be handled with, the deputy PM stressed.

He requested to draw up a list of all people who had been to the hospital since March 12. Localities whose residents had been to Bach Mai hospital must take stronger measures to deal with those cases, Dam said.

For his part, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said Bach Mai Hospital is considered a big and dangerous Covid-19 outbreak. His ministry has set up a special task force to carry out an epidemiological investigations in the hospital.

All medical staff and patients in the hospital have been quarantined and taken samples. The hospital has also suspended admission of new patients and remained isolated since March 29. The Vietnamese Chemical Army disinfected the entire hospital on March 28 evening.

Bach Mai Hospital is a large healthcare institution and with 10,000-15,000 people visiting every day, the infection can spread not only from patients and medical workers, but also from their relatives, taxi drivers, goods deliverers, among others. Therefore, not only Bach Mai but other hospitals are facing a high risk of infection, Son noted.

He added that doctors and medical staff quarantined at Bach Mai Hospital keep treating inpatients with sufficient equipment and medical supplies provided by the Health Ministry.

Epidemiologists are continuing to investigate the sources of infection from professional patient caregivers at Bach Mai Hospital. Additionally, it is necessary to access the health insurance database to localize and identify people making contact with Covid-19 patients.

As of March 29, Vietnam has reported 188 Covid-19 infection cases in 24 cities and provinces, of them 21 have been cured and discharged from hospital.