Epidemiologist Tran Dac Phu recommends that during the April 30 – May 1 holiday, there will be a need for a lot of travel, festivals, reunions… leading to large gatherings of people, with a high risk of an outbreak.

Crowded festival – super infectious cluster

Many world analysts believe that festivals, cultural and spiritual activities, and large crowds have pushed India into the pandemic abyss.

Hindu devotees attend the Kumbh Mela festival in Uttarakhand state in early April. Photo:AP

Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand are also dealing with the Covid-19 wave.

`The need to travel and socialize during the holiday season creates conditions for the virus to penetrate and spread very quickly,` according to Mr. Phu.

Doctor Vu Minh Dien, Deputy Director of the Center for Disease Prevention and Vaccination, Central Tropical Diseases Hospital, said that the need to travel during the holidays is legitimate.

Coming to An Giang to inspect entry management, quarantine, medical supervision and Covid-19 vaccination deployment on April 26, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son also warned of the risk of infection from ceremonies.

`Disease prevention work in the area needs to be promoted to a new level,` Deputy Minister Son suggested.

Subjective psychology, not wearing a mask

Mr. Phu said that for more than a month now, Vietnam has not recorded new cases of infection in the community, people have a subjective mentality, especially not wearing masks when going out.

`During the holidays, many people travel and come into contact with strangers without knowing who is at risk. When there is a case, it will be very difficult to trace. Even when the pathogen is leaked, the epidemic does not break out immediately, but over time.

In the current context, Mr. Phu recommends that people strictly implement the 5K measure (mask – disinfection – distance – no gathering – medical declaration) of the Ministry of Health.

`Medical declaration helps when there is an infection to be traced immediately. In particular, contact between groups of strangers should be limited,` Mr. Phu said.

Deputy Minister Son emphasized: `At crowded festivals, if you do not wear a mask, you will be severely punished.`

Maintain the border

According to Mr. Binh, An Giang’s biggest difficulty is that many Vietnamese people living in Cambodia return to the country through border gates, including entering illegally.

Two Cambodian provinces bordering An Giang, Takeo and Kandal, have had hundreds of cases.

Mr. Le Van Phuoc, Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People’s Committee, said that the province has organized 24/7 checkpoint inspection, especially on trails, open paths, and river crossings;

Deputy Minister Son said: `Maintaining the border is maintaining the anti-epidemic barrier.`

Deputy Minister Son (black shirt) inspects epidemic prevention work at An Phu District Medical Center, An Giang Province.

Deputy Minister Son requested localities to build a `people’s heart posture` to manage and promptly detect illegal immigration.

`In addition to radio, television, leaflets, and leaflets in Vietnamese, strengthen communication in Khmer and Cham languages to mobilize people in other countries to effectively fight the epidemic…`, the Deputy Minister said.

In recent times, the National Anti-Epidemic Steering Committee and the Ministry of Health have continuously warned that a fourth epidemic could appear in Vietnam.