COVID-19, F0 to F5, Centralized Quarantine and Cohort Quarantine Guide A to Z in Vietnam

A brief survival guide of the era of quarantine in Vietnam for all of us.

18 min readMar 22, 2020

What are the definitions of F0, F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 when it comes to viral infectious disease?
What actions to take?
What should I do if an ambulance comes to my apartment or office lobby?
What to do if my apartment abruptly begins a cohort quarantine?
What should I do at home if I want to self-quarantine for my safety?
How to support my family and friends in need?

**What actions to take from F0 to F5, and the Vietnam Government CDC Hotline**

What are the meanings of F0, F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5?

Sadly, it’s not Formula 1 we have been waiting for in Ha Noi. My husband is a motor racing driver, a motor racing tournament commentator and an automobile columnist in Korea as well as a marketing director in Viet Nam. The Grand Prix has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Well, my family has been waiting for F1 in Ha Noi so much, ironically, and ridiculously, upon arrival, after going through the immigration process, all the passengers and travelers are categorized as same as F1. (They are not F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 or even a non-contact. However silent incubation period of this novel virus has changed almost everything in people’s lives. No one knows who is a silent carrier in an airplane. That’s why all the people without exceptions who went through the immigration process in the airport will be directly sent to the cohort centralized quarantine zone.

F0 to F5

F1 defines a person who directly contacted F0 (a positive confirmed patient of COVID-19)

F0 | Confirmed case-patient of the viral infection
F1 | People who closely contacted F0 (met face to face, talked to one another, spent some time together, they can be friends, domestic helpers, government officials who met them directly, roommates, and restaurant servers as well.
F2 | People who closely contacted F1
F3 | People who closely contacted F2
F4 |People who closely contacted F3
F5 |People who closely contacted F4

What if I had met F0 (confirmed case-patient) directly in Viet Nam?

If anyone had contacted a confirmed positive case-patient personally (face to face) they are the ones who directly contacted the patient and chances are higher than the ones who only had stayed in the same space. Depending on the fact and interviewing all the F1s (direct contacts) and F2s, F1s are to be sent to a centralized government quarantine zone instead of staying at home.

What about F2s?

F2s can still stay at home and self-quarantine but if they have suspicious symptoms, then they will call CDC or designated hospitals for support.

If I get a phone call from a CDC officials

All in all, it’s not like a random picking. All the people who had directly met a person who became a confirmed positive case, then government officials will come and take them to the military base like a quarantine zone. It’s inconvenient, but it’s the policy of the government to prevent people from unconsciously spreading the diseases because many are silent carriers and we never know if we are the ones.

But it’s not like arresting a usual suspect or anything. CDC officials or officials give them prior notice by phone, ask them to visit, and ask them to pack luggage to prep for 14-day-long quarantine. In the quarantine zone, the government will provide them with 3 meals, water, and detergents. Other things such as a laptop, books, clothes to change, inner-wear, towels are the ones they should prepare for.

Who else is going through the centralized quarantine?

Also, all the people who went through the immigration process from the airport are considered like F1s as well. Due to the silent incubation period, all the people who entered Vietnam by any ports from an international inbound flight should stay in the quarantine zone for 14 days, then they need to be forced to self-quarantine in a house 7 more days.

My husband and our 5YO little girl are in the military camp as well because of that.

All these regulations are annoying and inconvenient, at the same time, but I can understand the reason behind all these abrupt changes. They are the only possible way to keep all the loved ones and vulnerable people safe.

What should I pack if I should enter the quarantine zone?

As mentioned above, 3 times meal, water, a steel bunker bed (no mattress), or a hospital bed, a bar of soap can be provided from the military or dormitory centralized quarantine zone. However, you should pack any essential ready-to-go luggage bag if you assure that you had met an F0 before.

However, the government is ready for another type of quarantine since there are no places to quarantine people who come into the country.

From a certain time, I assume the city will stop providing people with a free of the charge quarantine zone. Still, too many people come into Viet Nam even after all the harsh regulations came to act. The country stopped issuing any new visas, even APEC pass holding employees cannot come in. You also need to prepare for getting a COVID-19 negative health certificate to get in. Or you won’t make it through. After going through immigration, all the people, without exceptions should be sent to the governmental centralized quarantine zone.

Here are useful essentials I can recommend. (My family is in the quarantine zone so I could listen to their needs directly.)

Quarantine Esseentials

more than 14-day-long (21 days recommend) regular taking medicine if you have any chronic metabolic or cardiovascular system-related diseases. (Insulin, Thyroid hormones, blood pressure regulating medicine and so on)
A laptop or an iPad (strongly recommend to have both if you have both)
A power strip (very useful)
A portable USB fan (if you have any)
Mosquito repellent and a tiger balm
Comfortable long and thin clothes to protect you from mosquitoes (Fast drying ones are better such as athletic or gym clothes) Thin windbreaker jacket or a cardigan needed if you have any, some places are chilly at night.
Books to read, notebooks and pens to write on and with
A coloring book/a sketch note and color pencils (for those who love coloring or drawing)
Power bank (in case there is no proper provision of electricity)
A small knee blanket (some places don’t have blanket)
a bar of soap, shampoo, and basic cosmetics such as moisturizer and Sunscreen
A wide hat (It’s steaming hot during the day)
Nail care utensils if you love to do (It’s at least 14 days….. it’s good for killing time, but don’t do it to others, only to yourself you know, you can befriend them, but should avoid direct contact if any……)
Snacks, nutty snacks, protein bars, chocolate bars, gummy bears, Chicken jerkies or beef jerkies, dried fruit, vitamin pills (Vitamin C, D, any multivitamins you used to take), more than 5 small bottles of water (during the initial placement, you shall wait for a long time) Whatever killing time snack you love to eat, protein & nut included ones are recommended and the ones that are good at sustaining your regular immune system.
BABY WIPES and tissues
TOWELS, MANY
Innerwear (also many)
Masks (if you have any, but the officials or soldiers will provide you with a new daily mask there)
Whatsoever…..

What should we do at home if we are not one of those?

Chances are…. we can’t be one of them. Although we haven’t directly met any F0s, you know we are social. We never know if we had visited our favorite cafe, and the barista touched the F0’s hand by accident. I mean, it’s that hard to imagine, but everywhere. Hard to admit the bitter reality, it’s like Russian roulette. No one knows if you can become a silent carrier and no one knows exactly when the person got exposed to the hazardous situation, because all the people we meet are the ones who we used to meet. Our co-workers, friends, family members, domestic helpers, drivers, doctors, and nurses if you had visited a hospital or a clinic not because of this virus but due to other matters, your neighbors, grocery store’s clerk, delivery guy…. I mean everyone can be a silent carrier, and they still don’t know where they are exposed to.

That’s the main reason why the CDC carefully investigates and interrogates the F0’s route and people who they met to keep track of the uncertainties to possibilities. Then they reveal the route and the schedule of the confirmed case-patient. Because we can recall if we had contacted any of those random people who were closely contacted F0s by any chance, then all those who are sure of contacting any F0s can begin self-quarantine or forced quarantine to see if any symptoms arise during the incubation period.

I would like to assert that it’s no one’s fault. I can be a silent carrier. See how many people are suffering and struggling in this whole wide world. All the people are losing their jobs, the financial shocks coming, but it’s a lot more different than the ones like the Black Monday, or the subprime mortgage and Leeman brothers. A pandemic is playing a key role in all these social isolation and economic recession. Nobody knows how long it will last. Airplanes stop running from continents to continents, countries to countries, then probably even from cities to cities. Because lessening down and diminishing all the potential new contacts can only slow down the spreading. Still, community infection would arise, but we can at least be ready for the battle.

It’s inconvenient, families and friends are separated, not sure when to reunite, and not sure when to re-fly back home. I though 2020 can be the time what the motion picture, the 5th element used to show in the movie. I expected a flying car. I love driving a car, all my family members love driving. Why not flying on the air alone….. but the reality is the airport shutdown, and all the outbound and inbound international flight cancellations. Although your country hasn’t shut down all of them, it’s more likely to be a matter of time.

Government running a centralized quarantine zone can’t be an ideal answer, but it’s the safest regulation they can take for their own sake and others. I think forced quarantine at home can be the best way to tackle in this country. The military zone, dormitories, and hospitals are limited, and they have a lack of capacity. Also, it’s a cohort quarantine. The best way to quarantine yourself to be safe is to use the space only by yourself, not interacting with anyone, but as you can imagine, it’s almost impossible. It’s like a military camp. They confine your area until where you can walk out from buildings to buildings, but you have a higher risk of being exposed by potential Fs during the camp.

Even the government and CDC know that’s a self-isolation or 1:1 isolation are the best ways, but they don’t have enough budget or manpower to take control of all the forced self-quarantine at home individually. Although the risk of exposing the virus will go up to those who are in the quarantine zone, it is probably the only way to keep the remainders safe. So far, only F1s and the people who went through the immigration process in the airport are forced to be there. Others are all better to stay at home at this point.

Although you are at home, you should be ready for a cohort quarantine of your apartment or a condominium. We never know who can be the suspicious case in your apartment. It can be me, it can be you. Since a condominium type residence shares many commonplaces, a lobby, a reception, a playground, a gym, a swimming pool, a BBQ shack, a small park, and most dangerously, elevators. Elevators are confined and closed areas without proper ventilation, and you need to press the button. Therefore, not using the elevator as often as possible can be better now.

An ambulance came with the officials who are wearing protective clothes! What should we do?

It’s okay! You won’t die or you won’t become infected right away. Any of your apartment residents might call the ambulance to check if they have any suspicious symptoms such as fever, a sore throat, short breaths, coughs and so on. Nowadays, to minimize the suspicious symptom holding people to run into a new contact, CDC would most likely send an ambulance to the apartment lobby, and they interview the suspect via phone, depending on the severeness or seriousness and the possibility of contacting an F0, they will take the person to a hospital or a quarantine zone first, do testing, and quarantine the building in a cohort way to disinfect after the suspect left the building.

If the suspect is COVID-19 negative, upon completing disinfections, all the places will open again after a couple of days.
If the suspect is COVID-19 positive, upon completing disinfections, all the places will open again but the same floor residents who are living on the same floor with the confirmed case-patient after a couple of days.
If the cohort quarantine gets longer, that means a new suspect is under getting a test and waiting for the result to come.

Overall, prepping plenty of water, groceries, essentials is recommended, but you don’t need to buy 10 packs of toilet rolls. Still, all the things can be delivered by using Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, Annam Gourmet app, Grab food, Now, Farmer’s market, Concung (baby essentials), and you name it. Korea has a one-day promise delivery service. If I order a book, they will get it delivered in front of my house on the same day. However, Vietnam is even faster than that. They get things delivered in real-time. I believe all these grab drivers and delivery guys help and support all the people in Vietnam in many ways. Don’t be in a panic, get essential things ready, still you can get everything delivered in a few hours or a realtime. Today, I’ve ordered 2 bottles of 20L water, it only took 3 minutes to get those. They were only 100K.

If your apartment is cohort quarantined, you can still pick up food at the main gate or reception desks, but officials or janitors will pick up those, and you will give them money if you order something with COD(cash on delivery)
If you are forced self-quarantined, the apartment janitor will pick up your order, groceries, water, and grab food whatsoever, and they will deliver those in front of your house door, they will leave those there, then you will open the door to pick up. You won’t see them face to face as you know.

Overall, it’s not the end of the world. It’s like survival and struggling for everyone, but we can still deal with it if we all work together. Self-quarantine is needed not only for yourself but for your family or friends, for the community members and then for the people living in the same nation.

How to help my family and friend if they are abruptly quarantined?

Most likely, CDC will give a phone call, interview them, and let them know when to pick up people who had contacted F0s. Having mentioned above, they will give them time to pack their bags. However, if anyone you know has faced an urgent situation and the officials and ambulance took them (like if the person got fainted…. maybe) you can still help them or support them.

So far, below are the locations that Ho Chi Minh City uses for centralized quarantine.

The governmental health center or clinic in every Quan (District)
Military Education Camp or School dormitory (Military base and zone) all over Ho Chi Minh City
University Dormitories
Hospitals
and so forth

If they are in the military quarantine zone, you can send them an SOS kit if they need any items. They can figure out where they are. You can send them the necessary items if they have forgotten. When you need to send a package or an SOS kit, make sure if sending any items is allowed in the military base. Vietnamese citizens are easier to get any help from their friends and families if there are any, people are waiting in line to pass them essential things. (I think this is also ridiculous because those family members or friends will face meeting a new contact randomly……)

However, you may need to ask your friend if they got confirmed getting items outside by their consulate general. Most likely in this situation, they might get SOS items. But some military base prevents people from getting any items from outside because of the risk I mentioned above. Only confirmed help notified by the consulate general or the community help center(?) or NGOs can pass the items in. You should leave items or pass the items to the soldiers or janitors at the gate, then they will get those items delivered to their place.

I am sorry for this run down writing. I thought I need to sum this up since my family is facing the same embarrassment.

My personal story, the dual cohort quarantined family

You can skip this if you are not interested in.

To tell you the story, my husband and the first little one are in the centralized quarantine zone, and I am at home with my 7-month-old little one, a sleep-in caregiver at home. I work from home as an R&D team lead to an education company in Vietnam. On March 19th, upon my husband and the first one’s arrival in SGN, my apartment is also cohort quarantined for 14 days because the confirmed case-patient in my apartment is rather complicated and severe. I needed a caregiver while working at home, but she used to commute only during the weekend, came to my house on Monday, and on Friday night she went back home to Go Vap. Go Vap is quarantined too, and she stuck in my house after my apartment got quarantined together. Don’t worry too much. We have enough food to eat, and we are staying strong at home.

my husband went on a business trip to Korea. He needed to come back to Vietnam, but he took our 5-year-old little one with him. He may go through all the quarantine if he were alone, but we were worried about our little girl if she could deal with it. At the moment, on March 4th when they had entered the Tan Son Nhat airport initially stopping by Bangkok. Still, they can detour to self-quarantine in the third country that was relatively safe. They had waited for 11 hours in an airport quarantine zone (because the quarantine officials asked them to do so) I purchased the closest flight for them to fly back to Bangkok. They had stayed there for the full 14 days, and it was about the right time to get back to Ho Chi Minh City. Then the night before, the flight cancellation email came. We thought it’s the last call. All the flights from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh are gone the day after. They stayed up all night including me, at home, took the earliest morning flight from the Suvarnabhumi Airport, safely arrived in SGN. However, their struggling journey never ended. We already knew that they will be forcefully quarantined in a military base, however, if they had lost chance, then he won’t be back to his work, and my little one will stay in Korea with her grandparents until the port reopens, we don’t know when. We had a strong gut that all the inbound and outbound international flights will be canceled soon, and it was correct. They took the last-minute flight from BKK to SGN, and the same night, all the airlines from BKK to SGN began cancellation.

Then they had to wait for 8 hours in the airport. I knew I couldn’t see the person to person at all, still, I wanted to support my little lady by showing myself there. I kept staying outside of the quarantine zone, it was steaming hot. You know next to the Burger King Shack on the first floor where the International Arrivals get out. On the left side, there was a big parking lot for airport workers. Two limousine buses were waiting for them. However, they couldn’t take the bus for the next 8 hours. Although they had arrived at the airport at 9 am, more and more people to come, and the quarantine officials were waiting for more passengers. I had to stay on the second-floor well-wisher’s gallery with the huge glass window. My daughter burst to cry. “I want to see mommy. Why can’t you come down and see me?” I couldn’t stop crying. But I needed to be strong. When I burst to cry too, my daughter said, “It’s okay mommy, I can go camping. I will wait. I will see you again, don’t cry, mommy.” We just waited and waited at the airport. They were on the first-floor quarantine zone, and I was on the second-floor well-wisher’s gallery. Due to the blind spot, both of us can’t see each other at all. One time, my husband pushed the luggage and the little one was taking it as a rolling chair, they could come over to the Belt 3 to see me where people used to pick up their luggage bags. I could see them from the window. They were so small, still, I could tell my daughter that I was in the same space and the same country. I wanted to ease her heart by showing up and letting her know that I was there. But it was of no use, we all knew that, but the fact sharing the same space could comfort each other.

Then they were sent to the military base. After 8 hours of waiting, and it has been 3 nights so far. They came back to SGN on the 19th. After their return to Korea due to TET, I came back to HCM to go to work with my second little one right after TET. My husband still had work to do. After that, we wanted to reunite soon. We never knew things have gone by like this, but they at least had made it get in the country before all the ports are blocked. Still, there are a few international flights. Soon, they will all be gone.

Dealing with uncertainties

They still need to face more threats. Cohort quarantine in a military camp is not an ideal idea. If anyone who is sharing the room is the silent carrier, they will be F1, and the risk rises. However, for now, we don’t want to think about any bad things. It’s already too bad. Since the quarantine zone has a lack of space, they want to get more inbound passengers tomorrow and so forth to the place where current people are quarantined. Vietnamese people who made it through getting in the port, and quarantined in the same camp are about to begin a riot. Any new people from the US or EU countries are a potential threat to them. It’s that bad now.

We are all on the same boat

We are all on the same boat whoever reads this. Most of us living in Ho Chi Minh has a home country out there. For me it’s South Korea, for you, it can be any other country in the world. Carriers are not bad. We don’t know who the carriers are. This virus is so vicious. It’s too highly contagious. It’s isolating everyone. However, at the same time, we are all sharing our stories to tell. The only thing we could do, for now, is to stay at home, work at home, eat at home, drink at home, pray at home, video chat at home, read at home, workout at home, watch Netflix at home, and so on.

I truly wish everyone out there stay safe. Even F0 patients are the ones that they didn’t know that they were sick. It’s proven that in some cases, COVID-19 positive patients hadn’t had any symptoms. No fever, no coughs, no pain, and no sore throat. Then all of a sudden, some people will show symptoms after the silent incubation period is gone. Some others are having minor symptoms and even get better naturally.

I assume some of us have already gone through this virus after getting infected then got over. It doesn’t mean that we are immunized. This RNA type retrovirus will evolve so fast every time they contaminate a new host, that’s why immunization is not effective now.

That’s why staying at home is the best. Although you got over this viral infection unconsciously, you may be infected again. It doesn’t mean the fatality will rise since more and more hosts are infected, the virus should lower the fatality to easily find out the host. But we haven’t faced this type of biohazard in our whole lives. I can’t imagine how people could stay strong during the era when the Nazis putting innocent people in a holocaust, and when Japan committed medical experiments on prisoners, and long before, how men on the battlefield could stay strong without seeing their family members for years.

Therefore, we should believe in ourselves, stop complaining, help others be mentally, emotionally, and physically ready to deal with this. It’s a marathon, but it doesn’t have 42.195 km long destination. No one knows when this comes to an end.

Still, we can help one another by giving others lots of positive vibes, loves, and hopes. We should fight against one another by the different political views. Many countries are facing elections, but I assume that the result will be the flip side of the one without this outbreak.

No matter you are democrats or conservatives, no matter you are left-wing or the right-wing, no matter you are the anarchist, whatever Gods you believe, whatever religions or nationalities you have, although you are the atheist, we should stop arguing, hold our hands together virtually, and let the life go on.

Until we all meet again.

Last but not least if you have any suspicious symptoms of COVID-19, please do the following.

Dial 1900 3228 or 1900 9595 and let them know what symptoms you have, and what people you’ve met. They will give you tips on what to do next.
Your apartment receptionist will help you too. If you can’t reach out to the CDC hotline, just tell the apartment janitors or receptionist. They know where to call and what to do. They will give you directions too.
If your house has a key, then put it in a secret place where your friend can find it outside. Or you can leave the key to the receptionist to help you out packing or helping your pet if you have any.
If you have a pet to take care of, ask for help to the ones you know first, and if not, post it on FB pages. Some people can help you out after the disinfection is over.
Please contact your country’s consulate general. They can only deal with the official & public matters in the quarantine zone on behalf of you coping with Vietnamese officials.