Health staff warned off high-risk buffets, karaoke parlors

Hospital directors would be responsible for managing their employees, ensuring they abide by coronavirus prevention measures like mask wearing, keeping a safe distance and avoiding the high-risk places, also including theaters and parks, said Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son.

The request came amid alarming coronavirus outbreaks recorded across the country since last week. Vietnam has confirmed 121 Covid-19 community cases in 15 cities and provinces in its fourth wave, breaking the one-month streak of no community transmissions. Coronavirus cases have even been recorded in the nation’s largest hospitals, representing the risk of cross-infection between patients and medical staff.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Medical Services Administration under the health ministry, on Thursday said it has requested hospitals to perform social distancing within its facilities and limit the number of family members on site, among other measures.

"Hospitals need to regularly conduct random Covid-19 tests on medical workers and patients at high-risk facilities, as well as those more vulnerable to the severe effects of Covid-19 like patients in ICUs," he added.

Medical institutions should also refrain from transferring patients between different facilities, unless the case is too difficult to handle, said the ministry.

Several coronavirus outbreaks have been recorded in hospitals since last week, presenting great challenges in the Covid-19 fight. In Hanoi, the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the capital’s frontline facility in treating Covid-19 patients, has been locked down after it was revealed to be a major hotspot that caused dozens of infections in at least 14 localities besides Hanoi.

Another hospital in Hanoi, the K Hospital that specializes in treating tumors, has been locked down too after 10 coronavirus-positive cases were recorded on site. One of the cases had earlier been treated for a month at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.