Six new Covid-19 community transmissions were recorded Saturday evening in Hai Duong Province, Vietnam’s current coronavirus epicenter, raising the tally of the latest outbreak wave to 776.
Patients tagged from 2363 to 2368 had close contact with previously confirmed coronavirus cases and had already been quarantined. They are being treated at local field hospitals, according to the Health Ministry.
Health authorities said the outbreak in Hai Duong has turned complicated as the new wave occurred mainly within industrial areas and around the Lunar New Year festival.
The health ministry Saturday dispatched experts from Ho Chi Minh City’s leading Cho Ray Hospital to Hai Duong to support its Covid-19 fight.
The entire Hai Duong Province, around 60 kilometers from Hanoi, entered 15-day social distancing starting Tuesday to stem the spread of the virus, with authorities requesting residents to stay home and only go out to buy necessities like food and medicine or for emergency.
Hai Duong also began installing surveilance cameras on major streets in some high-risk areas to assist police forces in inspecting residents’ compliance with pandemic prevention measures.
After Chi Linh Town, Hai Duong Town, capital of the province, restricted the number of shoppers allowed to attend wet markets from Saturday to limit residents going out unnecessarily.
At least 14 localities across the country have allowed students to return to school next Monday as the situations at hotspots like Hanoi, HCMC and Quang Ninh have basically been put under control.
Major cities such as Hanoi and HCMC continued letting their students stay home until the end of this month.
The country has been struggling with a new outbreak wave since Jan. 28 after 55 clean days in a row, with 776 community transmissions recorded in 13 localities, including Hanoi and HCMC. With 596 cases, Hai Duong is now the biggest Covid-19 hotspot, followed by Quang Ninh (60) and HCMC (36).
The national tally has gone up to 2,368 to date, with 35 deaths. Around 125,000 are in quarantine nationwide, either in hospitals, quarantine zones or at home.
This article was originally published in Vnexpress