Covid: Vietnam starts mass testing as new variant emerges

With the emergence of the Delta variant, government officials have begun to mass test high-risk groups in Ho Chi Minh City to contain the spread that is believed to have been brought over by a Christian mission that has resulted in over 125 positive cases alone. Vietnam has registered just over 7,000 infections and 47 deaths (as of June 1^st, 2020). The new policy plans to test up to 100,000 people daily and has closed shops and restaurants while suspending religious activities. Events have a hard limit of 10 attendants, with considerations to lower this threshold to only 5 people. These efforts are coupled with the preexisting policies that were implemented at the beginning of the pandemic, which Vietnam navigated relatively well (compared to the situation in other countries).