At the meeting. Photo: VGP/Dinh Nam

Mr. Dam made the comment during an online meeting of the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control with leaders of the Ministry of Health and Quang Ninh authorities on Thursday afternoon. 

"I agree with Quang Ninh authorities on the need of isolation and lock down but we should try to limit lockdown to the smallest possible scale as this will severely affect people’s life. It's easy for us to impose lockdown on a large scale but that will give the people a lot of hardship. So instead of locking down one entire district, we’ll try to lockdown some communes or hamlets," said Mr. Dam.

Quang Ninh province has traced down more than 81,000 cases. Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong said that Quang Ninh will need certain medical equipment to trace down cases on a large scale.