HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam will impose restrictions on
movement in 16 southern provinces for two weeks from Monday as the country
faces its worst COVID-19 outbreak so far, the government said on Saturday.
Vietnam has managed to keep coronavirus cases relatively low
due to targeted mass testing and strict contact tracing, border controls and
quarantine measures, but new clusters of infections in recent weeks have
triggered concern among health officials.
The Southeast Asian country reported 3,718 new infections,
the highest daily increase and the third straight day it has recorded more than
3,000 cases.
Three-quarters of the confirmed cases were detected in
southern areas, especially Ho Chi Minh City, and the Health Ministry said it
had deployed at least 10,000 health workers to hard-hit provinces.
Vietnam, which has a population of 98 million, has recorded
47,904 infections in total and 225 deaths.
The current surge in cases has increased pressure on the
government to boost vaccines supplies and accelerate inoculations, with less
than 300,000 people fully vaccinated so far.
Vietnam has received nearly 9 million doses of COVID-19
vaccines, and the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said the United States would provide an
additional three million Moderna vaccine doses to Vietnam via the international
COVAX programme.
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