The Ministry of Education and Training on Friday afternoon made a proposal to management boards of 16 universities, institutes, and colleges in Hanoi for turning their campuses into COVID-19 quarantine facilities.

The schools chosen for the conversion include the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the University of Transport and Communications, the National University of Arts Education, the National Economics University, the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, the Hanoi Open University, the University of Industrial Fine Art, the Hanoi University, the Foreign Trade University, the Hanoi National University of Education, the Hanoi University of Physical Education and Sports, the Thuongmai University, the National University of Civil Engineering, the Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, the National Academy of Education Management, and the National College for Education.

The education ministry suggested that the aforementioned schools prepare a plan to transfer students and staff to safe areas and set aside dormitories, gymnasiums, stadiums, and halls for the establishment of COVID-19 isolation and treatment facilities.

Schools in Hanoi have been closed since the end of April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

City chairman Chu Ngoc Anh has decided to enforce extensive social distancing measures under the prime minister’s Directive No. 16 for 15 days from 6:00 am on Saturday over the increase of new local infections, with the Delta variant spreading fast.

Of 3,991 new local COVID-19 cases confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Saturday morning, five were registered in Hanoi and 2,070 infections were logged in Ho Chi Minh City, which has risen to the top of Vietnam’s leaderboard in terms of new infections.

The latest cases have taken the country’s tally to 86,957, including 15,536 recoveries, as recorded since early 2020.

Since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave appeared in the Southeast Asian nation, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have accounted for 884 and 52,544 cases, respectively, in the country’s total 84,812 domestic infections.

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