Ministry of Health clarifies new self-monitoring regulations

HÀ NỘI — Further details about COVID patients self-monitoring at home have been released after the Ministry of Health announced a relaxation of the rules.

On Monday, it was revealed how patients isolating at home were now allowed to leave their rooms, but must remain in their homes.

Confusion ensued with some believing this meant patients were allowed to leave their houses, prompting the ministry to issue further clarification.  

Under the guidance, labelled Decision No 604, the ministry said “COVID-19 self-monitoring patients are told to limit going out of their quarantined place. When having to leave the quarantined place, they must wear a mask and keep a distance from other people.”

But under no circumstances should patients venture outside in public if they are still positive for COVID-19, the ministry said.

It also announced that currently, COVID-19 is still an infectious disease, and the World Health Organisation has not announced the end of the pandemic period with the disease. Therefore, current regulations still require COVID-19 patients to be quarantined and implementation of pandemic prevention measures as instructed by the ministry.

The ministry also requires caregivers or relatives of COVID-19 self-monitoring patients, who live together in a house, to always wear a mask and keep a distance when having contact with people with COVID-19. The quarantined place should be kept well ventilated and limited in terms of hard-to-clean items (stuffed animals and paper).

As of Monday afternoon, the COVID caseload in Việt Nam since the start of the pandemic stands at 6,377,438. Việt Nam’s COVID-19 death toll is 41,477, accounting for 0.7 per cent of total cases. Hà Nội continued to record the highest number of daily transmissions with 29,833 on Monday. 

Over 200.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country to date. — VnExpress News