Covid-19 patients can go to work: deputy health minister

If Covid-19 patients "are willing to go to work," employers should make arrangements to separate them and avoid cross-infection, Son said at a meeting Tuesday.

However, the Ministry of Health still lists Covid-19 in Group A, which requires that all preventive protocols are strictly followed, he noted.

Group A comprises dangerous infectious diseases with the ability to spread quickly and widely, have a high mortality rate or an unknown causative agent. Some others in this group include influenza A - H5N1, plague, smallpox, dengue fever, and cholera.

Under current rules, Covid-19 patients must be quarantined either at home or a treatment facility for seven days. If they test positive after one week, those who have been vaccinated will be isolated for another three days, while the unvaccinated must be isolated for another seven days.

The ministry had announced Sunday the lifting of all isolation measures previously applied for Covid close contacts. This move was made as the pandemic has been brought under control and life has returned to normal, Son said.

The average number of new infections recorded in the past week was 18,051 cases per day, down 52 percent compared to the previous week.

In March, Long An, the province neighboring Ho Chi Minh City, decided to send Covid-19 patients and close contacts back to the office if they were willing, making it the first Vietnamese locality to remove the isolation rule applied for Covid-19 patients and close contacts.