This guidance is developed using the contents of pooled sampling for testing in order to reduce the need for biologicals, chemicals and consumables used for testing, reduce sample testing time and ensure the testing quality according to the epidemic situation so that the provinces, cities, medical units and related units would use it for application and implementation according to the reality in the locality and unit.

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According to the MOH, pooled sampling for SARS-CoV-2 testing may have some limitations, such as the possibility of having to return to the group of subjects with positive SARS-CoV-2 results to get the sample again.

However, if the positive rate of the community is low then this will not result in much effect. The localities and units must regularly assess the developments to review the deployment of sample pooling to suit the epidemic situation.

The interim guidance aims primarily at assisting in the implementation of epidemiological surveillance and diagnostic testing for COVID-19 in one or more population groups based on epidemiological assessment and associated risk factors.

The goal is the diagnosis of COVID-19 and the decrease in the need for bio-products, chemicals, and consumable materials used for testing; to reduce testing time and increase the testing capacity.

According to the MOH, COVID-19 is an acute infectious disease of group A caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which may be transmitted from person to person and has an incubation period of about 14 days. Patients will have symptoms of acute respiratory infections such as fever, cough, sore throat, breathing difficulty, which can lead to severe pneumonia, acute respiratory failure or death, especially for those with underlying medical conditions or chronic diseases and the elderly.

There is a high proportion of people infected with SARSCoV-2 virus who do not have clinical manifestations (40-50%) and can be a source of transmission in the community, making it difficult for epidemic surveillance and prevention. Up to now, there is no specific treatment or vaccine to prevent the disease.

Currently, there are 121 laboratories capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 by Realtime RT-PCR technique with more than 537 thousand samples having been tested, of which 747 samples were positive for SARS- CoV-2. The positive detection rate for the virus is about 0.1%./.