The meeting was convened after four community transmissions of COVID-19 were recorded on July 25 and 26 – three in Da Nang and one in Quang Ngai.
According to a report tabled at the meeting, tests are being conducted for around 4,000 staff members at three hospitals in Da Nang where the newly-detected patients had visited.
At the same time, 10,000 blood samples from the community will also be collected for testing.
According to Acting Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, the ministry has yet to determine the source of the community transmission in Da Nang.
He said the virus strain detected in the new cases is different from the five strains found earlier in the country, adding that the exact source of infection remains unknown but it was possibly imported in early July.
All places related to the new cases have been isolated, which are the Da Nang Hospital, Hospital C Da Nang, and the Da Nang Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital.
The ministry advised people who had arrived in or left Da Nang as from July 1 to fill in medical declarations and inform the local authorities and health officials for health monitoring.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy PM Dam, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, underscored that all localities around the country must strengthen preventive measures.
He stressed the need to fulfil two major targets - extinguishing the pandemic quickly and maintaining social stability - and highlighted the significance of close coordination between medical, public security, and military forces.
Source: VNA