JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

Vietnam's major cities eye tightening COVID curbs as cases keep rising

Vietnam's major cities eye tightening COVID curbs as cases keep rising

Thursday, July 29, 2021, 08:53 GMT+7
Vietnam's major cities eye tightening COVID curbs as cases keep rising
A man living in an area under lockdown receives food through a barricade during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam July 20, 2021. Photo: Reuters

HANOI -- Vietnam's major cities may extend or tighten restrictions on movement to contain the spread of COVID-19 as new daily cases have surpassed 6,000 for seven consecutive days, authorities said on Wednesday.

After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been facing record daily surges of infections since an outbreak which emerged in late April.

Vietnam reported 6,559 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, raising its total number since the start of the pandemic to more than 120,000. Around 450,000 people in the nation of 98 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to official data.

The government has imposed strict curbs on movement in about a third of the sprawling Southeast Asian country, including the commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City in the south and the capital Hanoi in the north.

"Hanoi may impose stricter measures in high-risk areas in order to fight the outbreak more fiercely," city chairman Chu Ngoc Anh said in a government statement.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City said the city might need to prolong its social distancing period by one or two weeks after Aug. 1 as infections were continuing to rise.

Due to the mounting outbreak, the National Assembly, the country's lawmaking body, decided to cut short a session in Hanoi by three days to end on Wednesday.

The current outbreak has raised pressure on the government to shore up its vaccine supply and speed up inoculations.

Vietnam has received over 14 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from multiple sources including donations, the global COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme and its procurement.

A post linked to a British government statement on the donation of 9 million vaccines said the United Kingdom will donate 415,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam.

Reuters

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news