Two more provinces in Vietnam have confirmed new Covid-19 cases of local transmission, lifting up the total affected localities to 12, mostly in the north.
| Disinfection at an affected area. Photo: Zing |
On Friday, the country reported 19 additional cases, including four in the northern mountainous provinces of Dien Bien and Ha Giang. All the patients are linked to the Hai Duong outbreak.
The new infections have prompted local authorities to put a district in Hai Duong on lockdown, besides Chi Linh City and several communes.
To meet the rising demand, three field hospitals with total capacity of more than 2,000 beds have been built in Hai Duong.
With the newly-infected cases, Vietnam’s tally reaches 1,976 and the death remains 35.
Top government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long have worked with local authorities to seek solutions preventing the outbreak of Covid-19. Meanwhile, health experts have come to the affected areas to support localities in quarantine, testing, and treatment.
All efforts are aimed to curb the pandemic under control as soon as possible as the country’s biggest holiday – Tet or the Lunar New Year – is approaching. Before the holiday, demand for traveling surges, posing threats to Covid-19 transmission.
