Parents bring kids to hospitals
At the Vietnam-Cuba Hospital, the number of child patients has doubled to 1,000, of which 70 percent were suffering respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma.
Doctors at National Pediatrics Hospital said about 3,000 children have been admitted to hospital, up 30 percent on a week earlier.
The head of pediatrics at Bach Mai Hospital, Nguyen Tien Dung, said that in the past week the number of children admitted because of respiratory problems was 30 percent higher than normal.
"Children are sensitive to changes in weather," Dung said. "Viruses can also grow quickly when hot and dry weather suddenly changes into cool and wet."
The Environmental Performance Index ranked Vietnam among the worst 10 of 178 countries for air pollution last year.
