More than 500,000 students from the first to sixth grades in Hanoi's 18 suburban districts stay at home and study online from February 28 to curb Covid-19 spreading, according to the Hanoi People’s Committee’s decision.

The move was taken due to a surge in the national caseload with more infections being detected in educational institutions and the fact that students of the aforementioned grades are yet to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

Director of the municipal Education Department Tran The Cuong said at a meeting on February 27 that 15 outskirt districts of Hanoi had requested distance learning to ensure safety for children in the age group, citing that they had not yet been vaccinated as the reason.

“Since students resumed face-to-face learning on February 10, the number of children who have tested positive for the virus has accounted for 10% of the total infections in the city, or over 17,300 cases,” Cuong said.

A class of the Trung Thanh Primary School in Hanoi's suburban district of Gia Lam. Photo: Mai Khoi

He added that over the past week, the number of students attending face-to-face classes dropped from 90 to 75% in primary schools and high schools, 77% in secondary schools and 79% in elementary schools on the city’s outskirts. “The main reason for the drop was that many students and teachers had contracted Covid-19,” Cuong said.

The municipal People’s Committee also asked the district-level administrations to base their decision on the disease situation in their localities and opinions from students’ parents to decide between in-person and online learning to ensure safety for both students and teachers.

The city of eight million people has documented nearly 466,000 infections, with the daily record soaring to around 12,000 patients from some 7,000 cases in the past seven days.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh on February 27 warned the capital city will reach Covid-19 peak in the next weeks and the city’s healthcare system could be overloaded without proper preparation.

The situation is increasingly serious in Hanoi as more than 10,000 new Covid-19 patients have been recorded daily. However, 96% of the patients are mild cases that show no symptoms, and 95% are being treated at home.

Covid-19 rages again in Hanoi, schools are struggling to cope with the disease’s spread and subsequent staff shortages.

“The number of staff infected with coronavirus has increased dramatically in the past week, putting unprecedented pressure on educational administrators,” Le Thi Xuan, vice principal of Kim No Primary School in Dong Anh District told The Hanoi times.

“As of February 25, 21 out of 70 teachers in my school had contracted the coronavirus. Of more than 1,900 students, nearly 200 are infected. Therefore, we must switch some classes back online after a teacher was infected and numbers of students  being exposed to the teacher exceeded 60%. Only seven out of 39 classes are still face-to-face,” Xuan said.

Every day she receives many calls from parents of students in various grades entreating her to let their children study online.

Xuan expressed understanding for their fears, especially with the number of infections climbing steadily in Hanoi.

Primary school students in Hanoi join a face-to-face class. Photo: Pham Mai

With nearly 200 students contracting Covid-19 and 600 students making close contact with the patients, accounting for over 43% of the school size, Yen Hoa High School in Cau Giay District has to decide which classes can continue to be in-person and which have to switch back to online.

“Middle and high schools must revert to remote learning when one third of the students test positive,” Nguyen Thi Nhiep, principal of Yen Hoa High School, shared with The Hanoi Times.

With the incidence of Covid-19 soaring in schools, Hanoi parents are becoming anxious about their children's safety and the academic loss.

As of February 23, at many Hanoi schools, 40-50% of teachers and students were either infected or had been in close contact with patients after returning to school.

Chu Minh Phuc is one of them. The father of a 15-year-old at a high school in Hanoi’s Long Bien District, Chu Minh Tam said he prefers that his son to remain at home and learns remotely.

“This will give me peace of mind,” Tam said, claiming that 30 of 52 students have been taking lessons online due to Covid-19 fears.

After Nguyen Thi Kim Yen's daughters, aged 9 and 15, in Hanoi’s Cau Giay District, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, she said “something broke inside me.”

Despite her best efforts to keep them safe and constantly reminding them to comply with preventive measures, she could not protect them from getting infected.

“I just felt so defeated and utterly helpless. Now, I fear my daughters will suffer from fatigue, sleep disorder, memory loss, and other post-Covid symptoms,” Yen told The Hanoi Times.

Meanwhile, many parents of children aged under 12 are concerned, fearful of sending their children back to school because this age group is still not eligible for vaccines.

Hanoi, the country’s current Covid-19 hotspot, has deferred in-person classes of grades one to six in urban districts amid the spike in the number of new infections.