The Hanoi Lung Hospital in Thanh Nhan Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, has been locked down since late July 25 - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - The Hanoi Lung Hospital has been locked down entirely after detecting nine Covid-19 cases, the hospital’s director Pham Huu Thuong said yesterday evening, July 25.

Through Covid-19 screening, the hospital found 14 people infected with Covid-19 and sent their samples to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control for further tests.

The center later confirmed nine of them positive for Covid-19, comprising seven patients and two medical workers. The test results of the remaining five people will be announced soon.

Thuong said the source of infection remains unknown.

The Hanoi Lung Hospital began Covid-19 screening for all patients and employees after a young woman who underwent treatment at the hospital from July 6 to 22 tested positive for Covid-19 on July 24.

As of 6 p.m. on July 25, the hospital collected samples from 323 people, including 214 patients, for Covid-19 testing.

In related news, the Ministry of Health has asked the Hanoi Medical University Hospital in Dong Da District to set up an intensive care center with 500 beds to improve the readiness and capacity to treat Covid-19 patients.

The hospital is required to quickly draw up a plan for the establishment of the intensive care center and submit it to the Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment before 5 p.m. on July 29.

The ministry will provide the center with medical equipment for intensive care such as intensive care beds, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and high flow nasal cannula machines and ventilators.

To date, Hanoi has reported more than 9,000 Covid-19 cases in the fourth Covid-19 wave, which began in late April.