HANOI, Vietnam
(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, issued late Friday night, 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. On Friday, 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 Aug. 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment