Several universities in Hanoi have applied tighter measures on COVID-19 prevention and control in addition to allowing students to begin their Lunar New Year holiday a week early amid continuous reports of new community cases of the viral disease in northern localities.

Students at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) will begin their Lunar New Year, or Tet, holiday on February 1, a week earlier than scheduled.

While HUST decided to delay schedules for thesis and dissertation defense set for after January 31 until further notice, it continues with the same plans arranged for between Friday and January 31.

In a similar move, the Foreign Trade University in Hanoi allowed students to start their Tet holiday from Friday.

As a step to strengthen anti-COVID-19 measures, the Vietnam National University (VNU)-Hanoi has instructed its member schools to review and list all staff members and students who are the direct and indirect of COVID-19 patients and report to the VNU committee for COVID-19 prevention and control. 

Some of such contacts are requested to practice home isolation according to the guidance of the Ministry of Health, whereas others can go to work as normal. However, these people should proactively implement self-medical supervision and disease prevention measures under the guidance of specialized agencies.

The VNU-Hanoi also recommended member schools stop crowded activities, while carrying out other normal activities on the requirements of ensuring reasonable distances, checking body temperatures, wearing face masks in public places, using antiseptic solutions, and making complete and timely medical declarations.

The university also requested member schools to make a list of staff members and students who will return to their hometowns in the regions where community COVID-19 cases have been detected.

The schools are advised to deploy additional safety measures, such as school breaks and online teaching and learning, when necessary.

Similarly, Phenikaa University asked students to install the contact-tracing Bluezone app, make medical declarations every day, and wear face masks during study and work.

Students who do not wear face masks will be asked by the instructor to leave the classroom and marked as absent.

The university has a plan to organize Tet celebrations at its campus for students hailing from the localities with COVID-19 infections, which have been sealed off or suspended inter-provincial transport for the disease control.

After almost two months without any locally-transmitted cases, Vietnam was blindsided by a new wave of domestic COVID-19 cases in different northern localities on Thursday.

The national tally stood at 1,651, with 1,430 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths, as of Friday morning.

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