(ANSA) - HANOI, JUL 24 - Vietnam has ordered a lockdown for the eight million inhabitants of the capital Hanoi, as a latest attempt to curb a serious coronavirus outbreak that has already forced a third of the country to stay at home.
Yesterday, authorities reported more than 7,000 new infections nationwide, the third record number of daily infections in a week.
After successfully containing limited coronavirus outbreaks last year, Vietnam has experienced a surge in cases since late April. About a third of Vietnam's 100 million people are already subject to lockdown orders.
But the outbreak showed little sign of slowing, and HoChi Minh City, which recorded the most recent homes, extended a stay-at-home order for its citizens yesterday. Authorities have begun a campaign to disinfect the entire city, which will take a week.
Vietnam was one of the few economies to grow last year, thanks to its success in containing the virus during the first wave of the pandemic. But the country has been slow to procure and administer vaccines, with just 4.5 million inoculated doses so far. The authorities hope to achieve herd immunity by the beginning of 2022.
(ANSA).