Hanoi has recorded more than 12,200 Covid-19 patients over the past seven days and its daily count leads the country for five days in a row, according to the municipal Department of Health. 

The capital city logged 12,277 positive Covid-19 cases from December 16 to 23, the health department said, adding that a total of 1,774 cases were recorded on December 23, the highest daily count in Hanoi since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.

The novel coronavirus situation in the capital city has been progressing in an increasingly severe way, with new outbreaks being detected in many wards and an average of 1,200-1,700 new infections confirmed per day.

Newly detected Covid-19 patients were found in nearly 300 communes, wards and towns in all 30 districts. Downtown districts such as Dong Da and Hai Ba Trung report a relatively high number of cases. Dong Da is now rated at the district of high pandemic risk and has imposed strict measures since December 13.

Health workers are taking care of Covid-19 patients at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. Photo: Thach Thao

In all, the capital city has detected a total of more than 32,000 cases since the fourth virus wave hit Vietnam on April 27. Among these, over 11,650 were found in the community and around 20,400 were reported in quarantine facilities and isolated areas.

Facing the complicated developments of the pandemic, many areas in the city are blocked, including some streets in the Hanoi Old Quarter.

With a population of nearly ten million, Hanoi has administered over 6.8 million first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and some six million second jabs, according to the national Covid-19 vaccination portal.

The municipal People's Committees has requested all localities across the city to hasten Covid-19 vaccination, with all adults eligible for vaccination to receive their second shots by the end of 2021, all children aged 12 and above to get their second shots within January 2022, and all adults to be given their third shots within the first quarter of 2022.

As of December 23, Vietnam has recorded around 1.6 million local Covid-19 cases in the new wave. The total number of deaths so far is 30,531, or around 1.9% of all infections.

More than 10,940 Covid-19 patients were announced recovered on Thursday, bringing the number of recovered cases to over 1.1 million.

Around 76.5 million people have received their first Covid-19 vaccine shots, 64.1 million people have received their second shots, and over 1.7 million people have received their third shots.