The “dual” benefits of quarantining F1 cases at home

– After more than one month of implementation, the home quarantine of F1 cases has been effective and safe, creating “dual” benefits – reducing the load on concentrated quarantine establishments, convenient for the quarantined and reduce cross-contamination.

On November 30, 2021, the Department of Health issued Document No. 5338/SYT-NVYD guiding the management of F1 cases at home in the COVID-19 prevention and control and piloted this initiative in Van Lang and Cao Loc districts. After the Ministry of Health issued Document No. 10696/BYT-MT dated December 16, 2021 on concentrated quarantine for F1 cases who have received a full dose of vaccine or have recovered from COVID-19, the Department of Health had Document No. 5557/SYT-NVYD dated December 17, 2021 on medical quarantine for F1 cases who have had a full dose of vaccine or have recovered from COVID-19 epidemic will perform medical quarantine at home for seven days (if eligible) and continue home quarantine for the next seven days.

The appraisal team of the steering committee for epidemic prevention and control in Cao Loc township, Cao Loc district reviewed and appraised cases of home quarantine.

Specifically, after identifying F1 cases related to COVID-19 cases, the commune-level steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control will make a specific list of each F1 case. After that, the Steering Committee set up an appraisal team to each family to review, evaluate and appraise safety conditions according to the instructions of the Department of Health and make a decision to quarantine F1 cases at home and in the residence. Members of the community COVID team will perform the task of monitoring F1 cases for the safest quarantine. At the same time, each resident, next-door neighbor of quarantined F1 cases will be the one to monitor and notify the relevant forces for cases of failure to comply with regulations on the epidemic prevention and control.

Ms. Hoang Thi Minh Thao, Chairman of Dong Dang Township People’s Committee, Cao Loc district said that implementing F1 quarantine at home from early December 2021 to January 11, 2022, the leaders of Dong Dang Township made a decision to quarantine F1 cases at home for nearly 400 cases to ensure absolute safety (more than 200 cases have completed home quarantine). After more than a month of implementation, they found that the quarantine of F1 cases at home has reduced a lot of pressure for the locality and is convenient for the people. For example, each person in concentrated quarantine has to pay an average of 70,000 VND to 80,000 VND for three meals a day (if there is no support from sponsors and family members’ rice); in a crowded quarantine environment, cross-infection is easy to occur if the quarantined do not comply with epidemic prevention and control measures.

Currently, the whole province maintains eleven concentrated medical quarantine establishments, the establishment, construction and maintenance of new quarantine establishments are facing many difficulties because in each quarantine area, units have to invest hundreds of millions of dong for facilities and equipment to operate effectively. In addition, when concentrated quarantine establishments are overloaded, people will have to spend a lot of money on quarantine at hotels and guesthouses with the average amount of money each person has to spend in a quarantine period is from 2 to 5 million VND (depending on the quarantine period).

In particular, to ensure safety in concentrated quarantine areas, human resources have been greatly mobilized and maintenance costs have increased accordingly. Therefore, it is very necessary for F1 cases to be quarantined at home at this time, when F1 cases are quarantined, with health monitoring at home, people have conditions to eat, stay, live in moderation; therefore, it helps them strengthen their resistance and improve their physical strength. At the same time, when at home, F1 cases will be entertained by audio-visual media, do housework, being regularly encouraged by relatives, not contacting other F1 cases so that they are psychologically stable and comfortable and so on.

The steering committee for epidemic prevention and control in Cao Loc township, Cao Loc district posted a sign to quarantine F1 cases at home

Ms. Giap Thi Thuy, Phuong Dong village, Hoa Lac commune, Huu Lung district said that after discovering that she had been exposed to F0, the Hoa Lac Commune Steering Committee appraised and decided to let her quarantine at home from January 3, 2022. At first, her family and she were a bit worried, but after receiving clear instructions and explanations from medical staff and local authorities, she is assured to seriously implement home quarantine. At home, she could eat and rest comfortably, so she is mentally stable and quarantined.

After more than one month of implementing F1 quarantine at home, the quarantine work is guaranteed to be safe and effective. During the above time, there have been nearly 10,000 cases of F1 completing quarantine (mostly at home). As of the end of January 11, 2022, the province has 5,365 F1 cases (5,113 cases are being quarantined at home; 252 cases are in concentrated medical quarantine).

Mr. Nguyen The Toan, Director of the Department of Health, said that along with concentrated medical quarantine, the quarantine of F1 cases at home is aimed at reducing the risk of disease transmission to the community. Faced with the fact that the epidemic is complicated, every day, COVID-19 cases are still recorded in the community, the number of F1 is constantly increasing, the quarantine of F1 at home is a “dual” solution in the current period and receives high consensus from the People.

Currently, in order to quarantine F1 cases at home with ensured safety and effectiveness, besides the involvement of the whole political system, the most important thing is the awareness and responsibility of the quarantined when strictly complying with the regulations of the authorities. Only in this way, will the epidemic in the area soon be controlled and repelled.

According to the report of the Department of Health, from December 1, 2021 to January 11, 2022, the whole province recorded 2,455 cases of COVID-19, the number of related F1 cases has also increased day by day. At the above time, the province identified nearly 15,000 F0-related F1 cases that have been detected and quarantined.