A makeshift hospital in anticipation of rising local coronavirus infections has been set up in the northern province of Ha Nam, home to the first locally-infected cases in months.

The makeshift hospital with 300-500 beds has been built in the campus of Ha Nam-based Bach Mai Hospital in Phu Ly city to support virus testing and treatment of Covid-19 patients in the province.

The move is among a host of contingency plans dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, said Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Tuan, director of Bach Mai Hospital.

Doctor Tuan said that the hospital will be equipped with high-tech devices including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

"The hospital was put into operation on May 1 and now we can conduct 5,000 tests a day," Tuan said.

He stressed that after 24 hours, the hospital will complete all the work related to the Covid-19 diagnosis and it is ready to admit coronavirus-infected patients in severe status.

A makeshift hospital was set up in the campus of Ha Nam-based Bach Mai Hospital. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

"Tonight, the hospital will set up another 400 more treatment beds for Covid-19 patients. All supplies, medical equipment, and medicines are fully supplied by Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital and Ha Nam General Hospital,” Tuan added.

The northern province of Ha Nam has so far reported ten coronavirus-infected cases. The outbreak began when Covid-19 patient No.2899, a 28-year-old man, returned to Vietnam from Japan on flight VJ3613, arriving at Danang International Airport on April 7 and being quarantined on entry.

After 14 days of quarantine and three negative tests, he returned to Ha Nam on April 22. But on April 24, he began to cough and have a fever and sore throat, and tested positive for the novel coronavirus on April 29.

Director of the provincial Centre for Diseases Control, Nguyen Thanh Duong said that the patients are being treated at the Ha Nam General Hospital where over 300 people who had come into close contact with him are being quarantined.

The province has also identified and taken samples of 1,295 other people for viral testing, Duong added.

Speaking at an urgent meeting on the new locally-transmitted cases in Ha Nam, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long noted that the transmission speed here was rapid.

Several other localities including Hung Yen province, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City have also reported new infection cases that are linked to the patient in Ha Nam, Long noted.

At a meeting of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on
May 1 afternoon, Vice Chairman of the Ha Nam province People's Committee Tran Xuan Duong said that schools in the province will be closed from May 3-9 to ensure students’ safety.