A doctor in quarantine area (File photo)

Doctor Nguyen Hong Ha and his colleagues at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases have always kept in mind what they should do to protect themselves and others from coronavirus.

Doctor Ha said, “The coronavirus is highly communicable. A person can be infected with a very small amount of the virus. Prevention, contact tracing, and isolation are difficult work. Doctors have close contact with patients and the risk increases when there are many patients. At high-risk times, we minimize contact with others so that if we are infected, contact tracing will be easier.”

Doctor Truong Huu Khanh, Head of the Infectious Disease – Neurology Department of Children's Hospital 1, said he got a communicable disease while treating a patient. During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors wear protective clothing but can’t be sure of anything. They should be vaccinated as another protection.

“If medical staff are infected, there are two risks. There will be a shortage of medical staff to take care of patients, and they may themselves infect many patients, so medical staff must wear protective clothing and be vaccinated,” said Khanh.

The fight against the coronavirus is getting more difficult. There are new highly-dangerous variants and the risk for doctors is increasing. Protecting medical staff is vital to containing the pandemic.