National Party Congress attendees to be tested twice for Covid-19

Hundreds of medical workers in Hanoi would be mobilized for the task to safeguard the government leaders and delegates attending the event, Khong Minh Tuan, deputy director of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control, said.

Participants will have their samples taken for a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test from next Monday, and the second test will be done two days before the congress, scheduled to be held from January 25 to February 2.

The 13th congress will select the Communist Party general secretary, prime minister, president, and the National Assembly chairperson for a five-year term.

More than 6,000 police officers and military personnel were presented at a parade last week as security forces for the event.

A special forces team with training in anti-terrorism and hostage rescue is on standby.

Hanoi has gone over five months without local transmission of Covid-19.

It requires people to wear masks at public places like hospitals, markets, supermarkets, malls, and bus stations. People without masks are not allowed to enter public places.

Vietnam has been successful in containing the coronavirus through diligent quarantine and tracking measures, and has had only 1,531 infections and 35 deaths so far.

It has not reported any community transmission in the last 43 days.