A noodle stall in Ba Đình District only provides takeaway service as the number of infection cases in the city keeps soaring. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội People’s Committee has ordered the city health department and other relevant agencies to prepare for up to 3,000 new COVID cases per day.

The warning was issued after a surge in infections in the capital city over the past few days with more than 1,800 cases per day on average.

For the past nine days, the city has topped the list of new cases nationwide.

On Monday, the city confirmed 1,948 new transmissions including 658 community cases, mostly in Hoàng Mai, Đống Đa, Thanh Trì, Thanh Xuân districts.

Since the fourth wave of the pandemic, Hà Nội has recorded 41,357 cases including 14,991 in the community.

Medical experts have warned that the number of cases will keep increasing at the end of the year when year-end parties and conferences are held.

A large number of people from other localities flocking to Hà Nội on holidays will also pose a high risk.

During New Year, a lot of families in Hà Nội leave the city for rural areas, which might spread the virus.

Despite high warnings over the virus, many people are still gathering in crowds, organising parties and neglecting 5K protocol.

Health officials say that people who have been administered two doses of vaccine are still at risk of infections and even death in worse case scenarios.

The city has mobilised more than 500 healthcare stations and installed over 3,200 oxygen machines at 25 hospitals, ready for an increase in infections.

Local authorities have provided training to medical workers at ward/commune and town levels and applied apps managing patients being treated at home.

However, Vietnamplus have reported that many COVID-19 patients who are home quarantined in Hà Nội have not received timely advice.

A man named HT from Thanh Xuân District said his 20-year-old daughter was infected with COVID-19 and self-isolated at home.

When her blood oxygen level dropped, which can be life-threatening, he called medical hotline 115 to take her to the hospital but he was instructed to call the ward medical station.

After persistently calling the ward medical station for 15 minutes without receiving any answer, he did not know what to do, Vietnamplus reported.

Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Thanh Nhàn, Hà Đông, Đức Giang hospitals are all overcrowded with a large number of admitted patients in the past week.

Đức Giang Hospital has 50 beds for COVID patients but has recently received more than 100.

Doctors and nurses have to work around the clock to treat the patients at the hospital and at the same time offered online consultation to those being home quarantined.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Chử Xuân Dũng on Monday signed and issued a plan on responding to the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in the city.

The plan aimed to effectively implement measures to prevent the Omicron variant from entering, detect the earliest occurrence of this variant in the city, and prepare plans to control and intervene in order to minimise the impact of the pandemic on people's health and socio-economic activities if the variant is detected in the community.

A man who arrived in Hà Nội from the United Kingdom was confirmed to have been infected with the variant on Tuesday. He was immediately quarantined after he landed in the country on December 19, and has not had any contact with the public. 

The municipal People’s Committee set tasks and measures, focusing on strengthening quarantine supervision at Nội Bài International Airport; fostering surveillance and early detection of suspected cases of Omicron variant in residential areas, agencies, factories, enterprises; organising supervision through testing to early detect cases of Omicron variant infections.

The city will update relevant information and keep close watch on the development of the variant the world; fully and promptly administer additional doses and booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines in line with the guidance of the Ministry of Health; synchronously deploy pandemic prevention and control systems at all levels; effectively arrange mobile medical stations and groups to care for COVID-19 patients in the community; and continuously maintain disease prevention measures. — VNS