Doctors take care of a Covid-19 patient at a hospital in Hanoi.
The Hanoi Department of Health has just instructed local hospitals to implement drastic measures to reduce Covid-19-related fatalities.
Some of the measures include properly classifying patients for different levels of treatment; giving priority to some groups of elderly patients or those with underlying medical conditions; and ensuring enough medicine and equipment for all patients who are receiving treatment at hospitals or at home.
According to the department, together with the rise in the number of daily infections, Hanoi is also seeing an increase in fatalities, with the highest daily death toll of eight recorded on December 20.
As of December 26, the city confirmed 108 Covid-19-related deaths, accounting for 0.3 percent of the infections. Most of the deaths were reported in the group of elderly people and those with underlying diseases.
Hanoi has recently become an epicentre since social distancing measures were removed in mid October, with thousands of new infections confirmed daily over the past week. The city recorded a total of 13,779 cases in a week between December 19-26, including 1,910 cases confirmed on Sunday. Hanoi Centre for Diseases Control said that the pandemic was still complicated with daily infections reaching between 2,000 - 3,000 in the coming days.
The city has administered Covid-19 vaccine for over 95 percent of the population aged over 18.
