Vietnam locks down capital Hanoi as COVID cases rise

Hanoi, Jul 24 (AP):
Vietnam announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital Hanoi starting Saturday as a coronavirus surge spread from the southern Mekong Delta region. The lockdown order bans the gathering of more than two people in public. Only government offices, hospitals and essential businesses are allowed to stay open.
Earlier in the week, the city had suspended all outdoor activities and ordered non-essential businesses to close following an increase in cases.
Hanoi reported 70 confirmed infections, the city’s highest, part of a record 7,295 cases in the country in the last 24 hours. Nearly 5,000 of them are from Vietnam’s largest metropolis, southern Ho Chi Minh City, which has also extended its lockdown until August 1. In the latest wave of COVID-19 since April, Vietnam has recorded over 83,000 infections and 335 deaths.
A meeting of the National Assembly scheduled to open in Hanoi on Tuesday with 499 delegates will go ahead but was shortened to 12 from the original 17 days. The delegates have been vaccinated, are regularly tested for the coronavirus and are traveling in a bubble, and will be isolated at hotels, according to the National Assembly.
The centre of the normally bustling capital was empty and shops were shuttered as the lockdown came into force, although people could still be seen on the streets in the outskirts of the city. “I think people in Hanoi as myself agree with the city’s sudden decision of locking down the city,” said local resident Nguyen Van Chien. “We have to take economic risks to fight the pandemic,” he added. After successfully containing limited coronavirus outbreaks last year, Vietnam has seen cases skyrocket since late April.
About a third of Vietnam’s 100 million people are already subject to lockdown orders.
But the outbreak has showed few signs of slowing and southern commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City — which has recorded the majority of recent cases — extended its stay at home order. “I have been indoors for a month. The situation in our city is scary,” resident Le Bich Thanh told.
Authorities began a campaign to disinfect the entire city, which they say will take a week.
Vietnam was one of the few economies that expanded last year due to its success in containing the virus during the first wave of the pandemic.
But the Southeast Asian country has been slow to procure and administer vaccines, with just almost 4.5 million doses given so far.
It is also developing its own inoculations and authorities say they hope to reach herd immunity by early 2022.
Vietnam has a policy of hospitalising all virus carriers, putting medical workers and hospitals under huge strain, although the rule has been lifted in some areas.