The Ministry of Health issued a Manual for practical guidance on tracing people in contact with nCoV positive cases, on December 3.
Accordingly, based on the experience gained from responding to outbreaks in Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, Hai Duong, Da Nang and other localities recently, the Ministry of Health clearly stated that F1 tracing is
Authorities identify epidemiological milestones first, then trace each contact person;
Units invest resources and time to complete F1 tracing as soon as possible;
Step one in the F1 tracing process is to determine epidemiological markers by investigation staff of the Provincial Center for Disease Control (CDC), or district health center, along with local authorities and local health authorities.
Step two, notify the epidemiological milestones to the tracing coordination department.
After identifying epidemiological milestones, the investigation and tracing officer immediately informs the coordination department by the fastest means such as phone, text message… And the coordination department immediately notifies the local government.
Health staff of Thua Thien Hue province take test samples from people in the area, August 2020.
Step three, units deploy F1 tracing simultaneously using many measures such as asking patients;
Step four, all tracking teams from different places quickly send the F1 list to the coordination department by taking list photos, sending it back via Zalo, Viber…, according to the principle `wherever you can trace, send immediately.`
Step five, the Steering Committee for epidemic prevention and control at all levels and local authorities arrange vehicles to take F1 to quarantine;
After basically completing the tracing of F1, the units trace F2 by issuing a self-declaration form providing information about F2 to F1.
According to Associate Professor Tran Dac Phu, former Director of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), Vietnam is well implementing the strategy to prevent, detect, isolate, localize and suppress the epidemic.
Recently, when outbreaks occurred in localities, besides the F1 and F2 tracing teams at the grassroots, there were always information technology tracing teams to support.
`This guide has systematized the steps to trace F1 and F2 in the most optimal way, based on recent experience in fighting epidemics. On this basis, localities will apply it to each specific case, but
In early March 2020, the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control organized a group of about 300 volunteers including officials from the Ministry of Health, Science and Technology, Information and Communications, research institutes, and schools.
The Ministry of Health defines F1 as a person who has had close contact with a nCoV case within 2 meters from 3 days before the onset until the case was isolated.
F2 is a person who had close contact with F1 within 2 meters during the period from the first day F1 came into contact with the case until being quarantined.
Write Tuan